Amador’s shade structure nears completion

Amador’s anticipation for the new shade structure has been ongoing for a few months now. The shade structure is close to being completed and the estimated finish time is early November.

Todd Utikal, creator of the We Are Pleasanton group, put the shade structure plan into action and helped with the organization of funding and execution for the new project. The group was established with the pure intent of giving the students what they need without misuse of funded money.

“Here’s what people don’t like. No one likes to be taxed more. We all think we spend enough money and we all think the money is being mismanaged. The perception is that the district hasn’t done a great job with money … there is stuff that the kids need. I’ve been involved in a lot of nonprofit stuff in town [so] I put together a group [to] raise some money the old fashion way,” said Utikal.

The first major concern about the shade structure is the irony of cutting down trees for shade. In an interview Utikal stated that no trees really were harmed.

“I think maybe there was one tree that was dying, … [but] I don’t see any stumps, … I don’t think they did. They just had to break up all the concrete. Once you build any new structure then you have to make it ADA compliant with slopes and cracks for anyone in a wheelchair,” said Utikal.

A plethora of students voiced their opinion in regards to the time it took for this project to finally wither on completion. The finalization of this project was originally set to be done before the 2021-2022 school year but because of production and supply shortages this was not possible.

“I think it is a good idea to put the shade structure in, but I think it’s a little late and personally I think they had a whole year and a half to put it in. It’s not even sunny anymore and they took away the senior tables and most of the junior tables too,” said Aria Trivedi (‘22).

Thankfully, students will all be safe from the heat for 2022 and beyond.