Rosedale to the rescue?

The battle over the future of the Rosedale School captures so many of Austin's challenges: the city's budget crisis, the school district's even more severe budget crisis and the general erosion of trust in local government.

The Austin Independent School District, desperate for money due to years of mismanagement and a deeply unfair system of massive theft by the state, wants to sell the vacant parcel at 49th St & Rosedale Ave. that was formerly home to the Rosedale School to multifamily developer OHT, which wants to build a 435 unit apartment complex.

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The district has indicated it could get $26 million for the property if City Council City Council rezones the property for multifamily development. At the beginning of the year AISD was able to argue that the property sale alone would cover their shortfall this year. But the shortfall has since ballooned to $181 million, so the Rosedale sale amounts to only a fraction of a band-aid.

As you can imagine, many of the neighbors are pissed. In addition to grievances about traffic and neighborhood character, they have deed restrictions saying the property can only be used for single-family homes or "public school purposes."