Chamlian Gymnasium Arguments Heard at City Council Meeting

Over 150 people attended the on Tuesday. After nearly three hours, the City Council unanimously approved the construction, overturning the Planning Commission's January decision.

Here are some of the remarks heard by the council:

In Favor of the Gymnasium

"We get hurt when we play on the asphalt... Having a gym has been a dream for most of us."

-Armen Baghdasarian, Chamlian Armenian School 6th grader and volleyball player

"...We take our physical education program very seriously. Chamlian students have two class periods of P.E. each week. We have a structured program that encourages regular exercise, speed, coordination, teamwork, strength and endurance. Sports include basketball, volleyball, floor hockey, flag football track and field, jump rope,table tennis and simplified softball. Our students participate in the Physical Fitness Presidential Challenge program which encourages active and healthy lifestyles.

"However, as you might imagine, it becomes extremely challenging or our PE coaches to run a strong program when they have to deal with inadequate facilities and cancellation of classes due to poor weather conditions. Building a gym would no doubt alleviate all these issues and help us to continue providing our students with a well rounded postive educational experience at Chamlian."

-Annette Baghdasarian, Chamlian Armenian School Academic Director

"Some of our neighbors are concerned about the possiblity that we may use the proposed gym to hold sports tournaments on our school grounds. I would like to assure you... that will not be the case.

Quite honestly, it is illogical that we would be willing to spend over $1 million to build a gym just so we could hold two to three tournaments on our campus once a year. It should be obvious by now that our only purpose for this project is to enhance our daily physical education classes for our students."

-Vazken Madenlian, Chamlian Armenian School Principal

"The difficulty I deal with at school is trying to play any sport on asphalt. I can't say how many times I've skinned my knees or gone injured because we don't have a gym to safely play games. Instead we have asphalt."

Our teams suffer because we can't practice in bad weather... it would be nice to practice in a gym."

-7th grade Chamlian Armenian School soccer player

Against the Gymnasium

"The zoning has not changed but the school has. Lowell Elementary was a benefit to the surrounding neighborhood as a local school. It is a much different place now, with added new buildings and many more students after many generous variances for building, reduced parking and increased enrollment.... It is no longer a benefit to the surrounding neighborhood.

Chamlian is a commuter school... Lowell Ave is clogged twice a day from drop off and pick up. Now Chamlian wants to build a large gym on an already overbuilt property."

-Rick Larson, Second Ave. resident

"The council needs to consider the needs of the community versus the values of a private group."

-Thomas Hall, Abella St. resident

"Respect our neighborhood in spite of the politics, please."

-Steve Johnson, neighborhood resident

"I don't want this big monster standing above us. The school has done well without it and it can continue. We have a lot of traffic problems in our neighborhood because of the school. There's gridlock when I come home from work."

-Neighborhood resident

Maria Muriello, a Dilbeck realtor, described having to disclose the gymnasium construction to a recent buyer interested in a home on Second Ave. "That's a hard disclosure to make," she said.