How did the nearby neighborhood learn that the surplus school property in their neighborhood would be converted into a new, large middle school? Drilling contractors showed up with heavy equipment to take soil samples. Neighbors - many of whom work from home because, you know, Covid - could not help but notice something going on. So it got posted to the "Arden-Arcade and Carmichael Community Talk Facebook page. The post garnered a slew of comments, mostly along the lines of "I did not know about this" and "Bad idea because...". And, to be honest, that's the only way our elves got wind of it. We have tried and tried to get the elves to dig down deep on issue after issue, but sometimes they are just like people. They get overwhelmed with lots of stuff and don't always catch thinly-veiled hints in the various public agendas they monitor. So, in this case, they are feeling very grateful for the neighbors who posted about the site drilling. Without that post, millions of tax dollars might have been committed without the people paying the bill - the taxpayers - knowing about it.