The Little House on Plummer Street

“People were moving faster and faster.

No one noticed the Little House any more.

They hurried by without a glance.”

– Virginia Lee Burton

The San Fernando Valley was a very different place when the house at what is now 15526 Plummer Street was built 108 years ago. In 1914 “the modest one-story house” was constructed in an area that “was a sparsely populated agricultural hinterland”. After World War II the area began to change rapidly. Farmland gave way to residential developments. The construction of the freeway system, including the 405 freeway just west of the property, increased the pace of growth. Today the Valley has “more than 1.7 million inhabitants” and if it were separated from the rest of Los Angeles, it “would be the fifth largest [city] in the nation.”

Recognizing that the Plummer Street House offers a unique opportunity to connect with the history of the San Fernando Valley, it was recently designated as a Historic Cultural Monument by the City of Los Angeles. As “one of the oldest survivors of the early period of development in…North Hills”, it presents an opportunity to look back into the area before it was part of a sprawling megalopolis. It is so closely tied with the area, that the street it sits on is named after its builder, rancher John L. Plummer.

The North Hills Preservation Consortium is responsible for ushering the Plummer Street House through the process of its designation and it had grand plans for the house that would greatly benefit the neighborhood. Protected by its status, the house would anchor a park that would protect urgently needed green space. The structure would be restored and house a museum depicting early California settlement. The result would be a resource to the 24 schools that currently exist in the area.

Unfortunately, the thrill of victory in having the Plummer House protected has been dampened by the actions of the Bright Star chain of charter schools. In the middle of the process, it ignored the plans supported by the neighborhood and announced that it planned to build a new school facility on the property, eliminating one of the last remaining possibilities for green space in the area. Instead of a park focusing on history, the neighborhood will be beset by additional congestion. The neighborhood’s 24 existing schools will be forced to fight for “market share,” competing for a limited number of available students, instead of teachers being able to take their students on field trips to a museum that would give them an opportunity to experience history.

The charter school industry’s power was flexed during the approval process and the project was fast-tracked through the LA City Planning Department. Approval by the City Council was bypassed. The Bright Star Valor Academy is free to bulldoze desperately needed parkland and the hopes of the neighbors. They will not be allowed to tear down the historic house, but the public is not guaranteed access to the property.

The decision to proceed with this project is made more perplexing by the fact that enrollment in schools is in a decades-long period of decline due to demographic shifts. Charter schools have been affected along with their public school counterparts. In fact, in recent years, the Valor Academy Elementary School set to occupy the building has been unable to achieve the enrollment projected by its charter. This year, only 70% of the projected student body actually enrolled.

The LAUSD Board majority that ran on a platform of supporting public schools could stop the project before construction begins by making it clear that it will look closely before approving a move by the school into the new facility. Under AB 1505, the effect on neighboring schools must be considered and it is clear that the project will be detrimental to the existing 24 schools. If the district waits to perform the actual studies until after the building is built, it will be too late. The damage will have already been done.

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Carl Petersen is a parent advocate for public education, particularly for students with special education needs. He was elected to the Northridge East Neighborhood Council and is the Education Chair. As a Green Party candidate in LAUSD’s District 2 School Board race, he was endorsed by Network for Public Education (NPE) Action. Dr. Diane Ravitch has called him “a valiant fighter for public schools in Los Angeles.” For links to his blogs, please visit www.ChangeTheLAUSD.com. Opinions are his own.