A Matter of Pride

Today is the day to VOTE on our local school bond. So if you still have your ballot now is the time to get that thing in the mail or in the drop box.

I don't usually venture into political talk on my blog.  But I guess today I am going to go there.  Our school is running a bond for a new high school and transportation center. The High School Motto is "It is a Matter of Pride."  

I am going to have to vote NO. That is to say I have already voted no.  So a call from the Mayor, more mailings, and a City Council Member endorsement is not going to change my vote.

 It tears at me because I want my kids to go to safe schools and physically the High School is falling apart.  A bond was ran in 2006 where promises were made and broken. But more than that there is has been a long history of deferred maintenance not only to our High School Buildings but to our elementary schools.  This bond falls well short of addressing those issues. It is no secret that this board has not done everything they can to keep these buildings maintained or why would they be in such horrible shape.  Though they are proposing a oversight committee which is a giant step in the right direction, I believe this was only when there was push back by the community.  I wish there was a maintenance oversight committee.  Pride has not been taken to preserve these buildings.  Money hasn't been spent wisely. We are a small community with limited resources.  It galls me that our tax dollars previously were not used with more oversight. I am unwilling to have my tax dollars write a blank check.

I WISH that changing the outside of the building would change what is happening inside the buildings.  I know bonds aren't for that.  As the bond is written right now, I am unwilling to vote yes. In order to get my vote in the future, I need a oversight committee in place prior to the yes, I need real figures on how much a new building is going to cost, and I need it vetted by the committee that the local neighborhood really wants a transportation center in the middle of dense housing.  "Hello who wants to wake up to 30 buses being started at o dark thirty? "  Not to mention the increase traffic on a narrow street. I don't live in the proposed neighborhood but I know what it is to have school noise.  There are too many unknowns.