[Vision2020] The Nuclear Option (re: School Levy)

[lfalen]

I love your style, evn on those occasions I disagree with you. If I have a book to write some day, I could use your help.
-----Original message-----
From: "Joan Opyr" auntiestablishment at hotmail.com
Date: Fri, 15 Apr 2005 13:54:42 -0700
To: "Vision2020 Moscow" vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: [Vision2020] The Nuclear Option (re: School Levy)

> Dear Visionaries:
> 
> Gee, I go up to Spokane for a couple of days, and I come back to find tha> t my email has been flooded by hundreds of slavering, frothing, Pavlovian>  posts about poisonous plastics, security fences, the desirability of mur> dering jay-walking pedestrians, and -- my personal favorite -- some great>  investigative reporting by Phil "Gumshoe" Roderick and Jack "Doc Hollida> y" Wenders about those notorious Palouse gangsters, Keely "Baby Face" Mix>  and the Trail family mafia.  Thank God for this timely exposure!  Phil a> nd Jack (not to mention their graphaholic blog buddy, Dale Courtney) must>  have been wondering how long it was going to take the rest of us chowder>  heads to catch on.  Keely Emerine Mix and Tom and Dave Trail have been w> orking on this levy scheme for years, see?  There is no school facilities>  levy!  That's all just a cover for the ultimate in crunchy, granola, nef> arious plans.  They're planning a secret merger, and they're going to cal> l it . . . T!
 rail Mix!
 That's right!  And it'll make a million, I tell yo> u!  An international snack cartel, right here in Moscow, Idaho!  Potato c> hips and Cheetohs are doomed, do you hear me?  Doomed!
> 
> How the rest of you have resisted making that joke, I don't know.  I admi> re your fortitude, I really do.  Now, on to more serious matters.     
> 
> J Ford writes:
> 
> "There is NO $29mil remodel of the high school.  The $29mil is for the EN> TIRE  
> remodel/buidling project which includes two elementary schools and the hi> gh  
> school and the new high school.  If you want a break-down of that, then y> ou  
> need say so.  BTW, that has been supplied to the newspapers, in newslette> rs,  
> is available at the District Office and was very available on Saturday in>   
> the form of the individual handouts that the architect had for everyone's>   
> convenience.  Did you not get a copy of those?  I am sure if you went to > the  
> District Office and asked NICELY they would direct you to the material.  > I  
> believe they are/will be available at the individual schools also."
> 
> Amen, J. Ford, amen.  What has gotten lost in all of this fuss over "to b> uild a new high school or not to build one" are the proposed renovations > of Russell and West Park.  Those two renovations account for $8.6 million>  of the levy total, not an insignificant amount.  What's also gotten lost>  is the fact that this is a FACILITIES-SPECIFIC BOND.  I generally don't > like to type in all caps as it comes across via email as yelling, but thi> s fact needs to be yelled.  If we vote yes on the $29 million levy, we wi> ll get a new high school, but there is nothing in the levy that requires > that the school be built on the Trail site.  Keely favors that site; the > Trail family favors that site; and I favor that site.  But that doesn't m> ean that the Trail property has to be the site.  See?  This is a levy tha> t one can (and I dare say should) support, even if one is worried about u> rban sprawl.  We need a new high school.  Once the bond is approved, is t> here any par!
 ticular
reason we can't begin a fresh argument over where to > locate it?
> 
> Also -- and this is a big also -- here's the complete 411 on this levy: W> est Park and Russell are crumbling.  They're inadequate.  It is my unders> tanding that they are not in compliance with the ADA.  What's more, it wo> uld be cheaper by far to scrap them both and build a new elementary schoo> l at the Joseph Street site.  So why don't we?  Well, I'd say it's becaus> e the Moscow School Board is sensitive to the emotional and aesthetic att> achment many of us feel for West Park and/or Russell.  (With regard to Ru> ssell in particular, its aesthetic appeal, history and location seem to b> e of paramount concern to many.  And I'm glad for this.  I think Russell > is a beautiful school, and it would pain me to lose it.)
> 
> Now, let's ask ourselves a simple question.  What will happen to Russell > and West Park if the April 26th levy fails because too many of us have lo> st sight of the elementary forest for the high school trees?  There will > be no levy, period, that's what.  No new high school, but also no renovat> ions for Russell and West Park.  Why not?  Because there will be no way t> o seamlessly merge the existing levy that is to be retired this fall with>  a new levy, and that means that any fresh levy MSD might put before the > voters next fall or next spring will not feel like a continuation of the > existing bond but instead will feel like a tax increase.  And getting the>  voters to approve a tax increase as Phil and Jack and Dale well know wil> l be next door to impossible.  Hell, forget next door: it'll be the basem> ent, backyard, and attic of impossible.
> 
> The bottom line?  If the April 26th facilities levy fails, then West Park>  and Russell will continue to crumble until it is simply no longer feasib> le to remodel them.  We will lose those schools.  They will be gone.  So > long.  Farewell.  Auf weidersehn.  Goodbye.  Is that what the Friends of > Neighborhood Schools want?  Is that what the members of Citizens for a Qu> ality Education want?  We know that's what Dale Courtney and Jack Wenders>  want; that's why they've gone to the trouble and expense of setting up d> isingenuous, disinformation websites like www.moscowlevy.com and www.mosc> oweducation.org.   
> 
> Good people can disagree on this issue and still remain good people.  My > friend, "Baby Face" Mix, has pointed this out repeatedly and with unflagg> ing, near superhuman kindness, courtesy, and generosity, and she has done>  this despite some of the rudest personal attacks and willfully ignorant > provocation that it has ever been my displeasure to read on this list.  S> he's right; good people can and do disagree, but we need to understand th> e consequences of our actions.  We need to understand that "No" on the Ap> ril 26th levy means goodbye Russell and goodbye West Park.  Do we also me> an good riddance?  This outcome would certainly please Dale Courtney and > Jack Wenders (both of whom were extensively, if ironically, educated on t> he public dime), but how many of the rest of us would be dancing in the s> treets?  Precious few, I suspect; precious few.
> 
> "No" on April 26th is the nuclear option.  Bill Frist would be so proud.
> 
> Joan Opyr/Auntie Establishment
> www.auntie-establishment.org
>     Get more from the Web.  FREE MSN Explorer download : http://explorer.> msn.com
>