Night lights for Gunn students? Night lights for Gunn students? (June 17, 2005)

Parents try to raise money to bring stadium lighting to football and track field

by Alexandria Rocha

Last fall, Cindy Ziebelman watched her teenage son play football under the new stadium lights at Palo Alto High School's Hod Ray Field.

With the crowd cheering and the lights blazing down, there was only one thing that could have made the night sweeter -- if it was a home game. Ziebelman's son and his teammates go to Gunn High School.

"We just saw for ourselves what a great event it was; how much the kids, parents and alumni enjoyed it," she said.

The group of parents, also members of Gunn's sports boosters, were inspired to take on a hefty project of their own. Their plan is to raise $170,000 in the next six weeks to buy and install lights on Gunn's Hal Daner Track and Sports Field in time for this fall's season. They have already raised about $80,000, mostly from a few major donors and some small contributions. It would cost an estimated $250,000 to install the lights.

"Once people at Gunn saw how beneficial the lights could be at the school community, there were some donors who said, 'Yes, this is something we'd like to do,'" said Mandy Lowell, vice president of the district's Board of Education.

In anticipation of a successful campaign, the school board briefly discussed the project at its meeting this week and will likely accept the group's $250,000 on July 28. All private donations more than $50,000 require board approval.

This is all contingent on whether the group can raise the funds.

"We're very optimistic that people will step up once they hear the reason we're doing this. It's to build some school spirit and to pull the community together," Ziebelman said.

However, some might say this could be a classic case of keeping up with the Joneses. Many area districts require their high schools to share football fields equipped with lights with other schools. That type of arrangement wasn't going to work in Palo Alto.

"Gunn didn't want to play at Paly," Lowell said. "That's their main arch rival."

This time last year, neither high school had any plans to install stadium quality lights on the football fields. Both played their games in the afternoon daylight. That changed when a few major donors -- one being the Paly quarterback's mom -- stepped forward with more than $215,000 to fund four 80-foot lighting structures .

The project happened fast and left little time for neighborhood input. Most people were enthusiastic, saying the lights would boost school spirit and allow working parents to attend their kids' games.

However, one resident, Hartmut Sadrozinski, who lives on Churchill Avenue, spoke against the lights at the board meeting at which they were approved.

"We are concerned that our basic worries about excessive noise late at night in a residential neighborhood are being ignored," Sadrozinski said at the meeting.

To ease residents' concerns and gather feedback, the district held two community meetings throughout the year. Problems emerged with traffic congestion, noise, games ending late and one serious flaw with the misdirection of a light, which spilled over into a neighborhood. (It has since been redirected onto the field, but the light spillover cannot be eliminated.)

A year later, Paly is prepared to host another five football games, two soccer games and one track meet -- all at night -- in the '05-'06 school year.

A recent remark from one resident on nearby Castilleja Avenue reflects a still uncertain attitude among neighbors surrounding Paly.

"I'm not ready to comment. I'm still deciding how I feel about it," she said, requesting to remain anonymous.

Another Castilleja Avenue resident, Maryellen Johnson, said there were some problems with game goers taking all the parking on her street, but overall it was fairly uneventful.

"The lights, the games, it didn't really affect us at all. It was actually enjoyable hearing the kids play," she said.

That's how school officials see it too. And they have proof the lights have boosted school spirit. For one, attendance of the 2004-'05 season spiked to 4,331 from just 955 the year before. Those additional ticket sales generated $17,000 for the school.

As the school board and Gunn parents move forward on their project, they're taking lessons from Paly's experience. A major difference will be the community input. One community meeting has already been held, and another is scheduled for next week.

"My attitude on this is heavily influenced by what neighbors say," Lowell said.

The other change will be the careful installation of the lights, so none are misdirected off the field and into a nearby neighborhood. Board members made it clear during this week's discussion that the lights should be double checked before they're permanently installed. The lights at Gunn will be more difficult and expensive to install than Paly's because of foundation and soil issues.

As far as the football team is concerned, some players said the lights bring them closer together.

"At all the away games that had lights it was just easier to get excited or hyped up for the game," said Ziebelman's son, Bryan. "It gets more people to come out for the team and increases our drive."

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