The sixty-eight per cent no vote leaves me speechless. If you have words to describe it and want to share them you can submit your comments at the bottom of any posting on 56572. Some have already started. You can read their comments also by clicking on comments. You can also email letters to the editor of 56572 by clicking under my profile to the right, then clicking on email. Let's talk, listen, compromise and heal. Whaddya' say? I won't publish names unless you insist. I will require civility.
Finally, some comments. Thank you.
Permit me a few new questions:
1) Is the per square foot cost of building new schools more or less in North Dakota than in Minnesota?
2) When it comes down to it, are we more like people in Fargo or people in Minneapolis?
3) Are there qualified architects in Fargo?
4) Can we locate and agree upon a site for a new High School?
5) Can we stretch our creativity and possibly identify someone willing to put money in the old PRHS?
6) Is a new school now out of the question, until or unless the State would force us to build?
Please don't flame me. I'm just seeking common, in today's case, dry ground.
4 hours ago
8 comments:
The CTG boys (concerned taxpayer group)the negative against everything, group has just completed digging the grave for this community!! Five or more years from now we will be voting for less school for more money? They must feel very proud this morning.
Does this vote represent a watershed moment in the history of our community? A moment that defines our community.
Ten years from now, will we wonder what happened to our town? Where was our vision? How could we let this happen?
Maybe I'm just down because its a cold, cloudy day. Think I'll get another cup of coffee.
According to the April 20th, 2005 informational mailing from the Pelican Rapids School District the question was posed -
What will happen if the bond issue does not pass on May 12?
The School Board will continue to support their decision to invest tax dollars, with voter approval, in retrofitting the elementary school and the construction of a new high school building according to the preliminary plan. The board carefully and deliberately considered data that lead to their decision for the proposal before the public in May and will offer this same proposal again to the voters. The scope of the project will not change other than potential increases caused by inflation of interest rates and construction cost.
In addition, the longer construction is delayed, the more money the district will be forced to spend to comply with state code deficiencies and citations.
It is clear from this statement where we are going from here. Round 2..........
This issue is far to complex for anyone to make it out to be a black and white issue. Whether someone were to vote Yes or No, they would be both right and wrong. There are far too many areas of concern for either to be the "right" answer; unfortunately, the biased, headstrong community members who were pushing the voters to one side or the other thought they could make it appear as such. Pelican Rapids did not make the wrong choice on Thursday. They simply did what they felt was right.
Kudos to all of the voters in the district who did what they felt was in the best interest for the current and future students and faculty of the district as well as for the taxpayers. Whether they voted Yes or No.
anon 11:46 was exactly right. both side of this issue are clouded.It is not about P.R. being a progressive community,it is not about who pays for it. Its about doing a cost/benift analisys without having a desired outcome in mind.
If you were a NO voter, then at least have the courage of your convictions and state your true reason. Don't patronize YES voters with kudos and saying the issue was too complicated or that its not black & white.
The basic issue is simple but there is enough compexity involved in a project like this for someone to use minutiae to obfuscate and sew fear and distrust.
As we go forward let's be honest. If we as a community are not willing to invest in a new secondary school then we are also saying NO to a growing, thriving community.
I was not a NO voter nor am I a YES voter. I am simply not eligible to vote because I am not of age. I honestly don't think that this community would grow and prosper with the addition of a new school. That is just the facetiuos idea of the people who are pushing for a new school. Judging by the nature of these comments, I would have to say that the growth of this community was hindered by a great deal of insignificant bickering. I am not saying that those who voted YES were wrong. The Kudos in the previous comment was not for the NO voters. It was the well-informed voters who voted with only the best interest for our community.
Speaking of Pelican Rapids. Could someone answer this question. If the school board would have pushed for retrofiting the current high school building at the price tag of around $16 million, would the issue have passed? If no, even if $10 million was proposed? No one, even the "NO" voters, can give me an answer that it would have passed. I would predict that the same "NO" voters would have prevailed. Let's face it, the community, which includes the surrounding area around Pelican Rapids, is resistant to the idea of progression. Many of the "NO" voters, who seemed to claim many issues complicated their vote, know only one thing in mind. That is, how much their taxes will go up. They don't have to answer the public as to how they came up with their flawed numbers or statistics. On the other hand, the school board has to justify how they came up with every number or dollar they proposed. It's not every day that our school board has attempted to pass a bond issue, so they aren't experts on the issue. They do know one thing, however. They are doing what they think is right in the LONG RUN. If one were to investigate many outspoken members in the opposition, one would find the word "hypocritical" coming to mind more often than not. Look into it.
Could someone answer the question I asked earlier in this post?
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