Those people advocating for the El Paso Independent School District bond proposal gotta understand. Enough.
We’ve got the same people running from crisis to crisis asking us to throw money at the next problem.
Remember when we needed a ballpark? Remember when the Quality of Life projects were critical? The Children’s Hospital? A digital wall? Bus rapid transit? A trolley?
And now they need to tear down almost every high school in the district and start from scratch with what our state senator promises will be “the best facilities and the best learning environment that you can find anywhere.”
It’s a shame that our “leaders” didn’t notice that our schools sucked before they spent their allowance. Before they spent their goodwill. Before they lost our trust.
Because now that they may have a legitimate need, we’re tapped out. There’s no money left.
I’m getting crisis fatigue. I mean it. I’m worn out. Why does every crisis have to cost me money? Can’t we have an affordable crisis every now and then? Can’t we have some crisis that the politicians can handle without sticking their hands into my pocket for another half a billion dollars?
They’ve got a long way to go before they earn my trust back.
Amen! Why is it that every damn thing is a crisis, but nobody outside CCC or City Council ever seems to notice? And, why doesn’t somebody finally point out that the taxpayer’s pockets are not bottomless? There is indeed a limit to how much we can afford.
This isn’t a crisis. No matter what they say it’s a power grab. They’re bleeding 1000 students a year yet want to build “better” schools. It doesn’t cost that much to close schools and consolidate. If they’re losing that many students and losing campuses, how many administrators and teachers do they need to get rid of? A certain fairly new high school on the West Side has a prinicipal, 6 assistant prinicipals, and 9 counselors for less than 3,000 students. Are they all needed? Does the district have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars every year to try “new” ideas that are nothing but pocket fillers for people who couldn’t teach but can scam districts with some great idea that doesn’t do a thing. How many people are REALLY needed at Central Office? There are jobs there that are nothing but space fillers. I know, I taught for 17 years and saw tremendous waste every day while I had to spend my own money to get needed supplies.
“Never let a serious crisis go to waste” said Rahm Emanuel, former Chief of Staff to President Obama, in 2008 (as opposed to a frivolous crisis?). Mr. Emanuel is now the Mayor of the all but insolvent city of Chicago. It seems that the secret of the “serious crisis” was let out of the bag and politicians are now addicted to its use. Every governmental problem, concern, predicament, quandary, dilemma, issue, etc. is now characterized as a crisis which can only be dealt with by throwing ever more money at it. I suppose we taxpayers are expected to just think of it as professional bling for our elected officials. What the heck, it’s only money, and not even their money. Our community too can travel the “crisis” train to insolvency just like Chicago.