Re “Please, Mr. Laase, Let’s Be Positive”
Paul Ehrlich suggested this morning that I should be more positive in writing about the School Board’s $106M bond measure. There is no question he wants to fix our schools. So do I. I am not thinking just of the School District. I am more concerned about our community’s future, the effect the Board’s large bond measure will have on it.
On the Sunny Side
It seems Mr. Ehrlich wants us to put on fiscal blinders so we can think positively about the bond. If putting our community in a quarter- billion dollars in debt will have a positive effect on future bond rating, I will start thinking more positively.
Mr Erlich wrote “…the June 3 vote, will be more favorable to the bond’s passage once the electorate is informed.”
Q & A
I did not see Mr. Ehrlich at the Chamber of Commerce’s Eggs & Issues breakfast last Thursday morning. Had he been there, he would have seen the School District’s informative presentation of the bond. Our superintendent, David La Rose, spoke eloquently about how the District gathered information and about the importance of knowing from where you are starting, how to get to where you want to go, and knowing the bottom line — what it cost to get there.
During the question-and-answer segment, unfortunately, I had the last question. I asked our superintendent: Knowing we still have about $57M left to pay from Measure T, if the $106M bond passes, what would be our small city's bottom-line debt?
Missed Opportunity
The superintendent had the chance to inform the business community and the public. But he chose to dance around the answer. He repeated his previous remarks until the emcee said time was up.
Question & Response
Mr. LaRose responded, but did not answer. He missed the opportunity to help the community figure out for itself that if the bond passes, our community would be in the largest debt we have ever incurred, a quarter-billion dollars.
Madison Avenue-like Campaign
The District’s administration and our elected officials are not going to be completely up front. It looks as if they have chosen to listen to their bond and election consultants and will run the standard Madison Avenue-type bond campaign to indoctrinate the community with only the bond’s positive selling points.
All the Facts
Let the community be informed of all facts, the good, the not-so-good, the advantages, its long-term consequences. That way, local voters will be able to make a fully-informed decision.
If they do it differently, you can just say no.
Mr. Laase may be contacted at GMLaase@aol.com
