Here in Romeo, there is a proposal to bond $93 million to build a new high school as well as a fair number of other projects. It’s a lot of money and the politics that it has brought about are quite interesting.
I’m an optimist. I like to see what is happening in the Detroit area as a "market refinding" time as the auto industry continues to struggle to contain their costs. I feel it is merely a matter of time until the Detroit area finds a new source of industry to subsidy (backfill) the continued decline of Ford, GM, and DaimlerChrysler. Unlike a lot of my neighbors I don’t think that these companies will leave Detroit. But I think in order to stay, they will make some drastic moves, maybe even eliminating more local job… which trickles down to effect the many support businesses in and around Romeo today. I think that during this market correction, those people buying and investing in our area will benefit the most. Such as, people purchasing homes cheaply now will benefit by a bounce to come.
But I’m not happy about this current bond issuance. I have a few reasons I will be voting against it later this month:
- The timing is terrible. With some worry about the engine
plant closing or limiting their production more, it’s difficult to
commit to such a massive bond. If the plant closed altogether, we’d be
stuck with the opposite problem of huge buildings with no one living
here.
- The timing is fishy. I don’t believe in conspiracy
theories. But it is clear that there is something fishy about a bond
being voted on in the middle of the winter. It seems to me that the
school board is having (paying for) a non-traditional voting in order
to guarantee a small turnout at the polls. Certainly many area
residents go South for the winter. Likewise, with nothing else on the
ballot it seems that few people are likely to vote. My guess would be
that they think they can get $93 million based on a couple hundred
votes. - The amount is extraordinary. There are all sorts of projects in this bond. Sounds like pork to me. With a $93 million blank check
my guess would be that glad handing and waste on "studies" would soon
follow. Why not break it up into several bonds specific to their
projects. - This doesn’t address the primary district problem. Instead I believe that a bigger building would require even more staff. With 86% of current funds going to staff, how many more employees will be required? They already have pay to play for sports. Will they next have "pay for bus" "pay for desks" or "pay for gym" next?
- They district is over-politicking. They are killing the
public with "positive" commercials, flyers, emails, etc. Every single
time something comes from them I trust it less and less. I feel like
the biggest flaw of this bond is that it’s the proverbial 5th grade
election. They are promising something for everyone and it’s just plain
fishy.
In short, I like a lot of the ideas the district has. One large
high school is better than two small ones. I think there is an
over-crowding issue at the high school that needs to be addressed.
Likewise, I think that there are serious parking and traffic issues at
the current high school. It is growing and we need to do something.
But I don’t think this is the right time for this bond issuance. Break
it up and do it in November. Honestly, if the district is smart they
would pull the plug and postpone it until later.
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