Governor and Legislators, please do away with the stealth election dates. Like the man says, once every two years in November. If people playing with $172,000,000 can’t plan two years ahead we are so screwed.

The paper also reported that CCDC would have to borrow money for the stadium’s construction cost, and GBAD as well as the city would contribute cash as well. Where will all of this money come from??? Trees???

A friend of mine who used to work in the Hawks offices told me that last year’s “record attendance” was nowhere near what they had in the 1990s, when they averaged about 4,500 per game. There better not be any new taxes if this stadium deal goes through, as former president George Bush famously quipped.

I have mixed emotions regarding support for these bond issues since they perpetuate the shift in support to property tax payers.

CWI has put themselves in a bad position by their actions with the Boise campus. However the need to invest in our community college is real. Similarly for Boise School District. Have you seen how old, sad, and dilapidated many of the facilities in the district are?

It is well known that the legislature will short the education system in order to fight gay marriage, fight “ag-gag” lawsuits, waste millions on voided broadband contracts, etc. Since voters from across the state continually re-elect the same legislators it’s safe to say the approach is unlikely to change.

Ultimately the bonds are a local voter-driven decision to invest in our community when our elected state legislators choose not to do so in favor of neglect or frivolity. The results of ignoring the education system are well known and I disagree that running bond elections is a money grab. It is an opportunity to clearly communicate to our politicians what we value as a community, recognizing we do all have skin in the game.

Low tax bills do not create a great community; examples abound in the USA and beyond.

EDITOR NOTE–Zed we don’t disagree about the “need” for education. In the
case of Boise Schools, they are stacking the deck, much as campaigns in the East are alleged to keep minority voters from access to the polls. Boise Schools sent absentee ballots to their “friend list,” but not to folks who are likely to vote against the bond–perhaps any bond. CSI is simply clumsy in its politics. They spent big bucks on “consultants” and ran thinly disguised ads for their failed bond issue.

With regard to the legislature, approval of local bonds to “bail out” schools M & O (maintenance and operation) does nothing but give the legislature permission to ignore needy school districts. We have not seen good money saving plans like a set of one or two STANDARD blue prints for schools. They always claim the facilities have to be “site specific.”

Claims of “no tax hike” are simply false. If the bond fails, taxes will decrease. The TRUTH is, if the bond passes, every parcel of real estate in the District will have at least a 20 year debt load placed on it, regardless of who owns it in the future. That is the cost of education and to say there will be no tax hike (rate, levy, cost, etc.) is deceptive and would never pass muster under the “Truth in lending” act.

The GUARDIAN has no position on a YES or NO vote on the bond issue, but our position on informing ALL voters equally with unvarnished facts is nothing short of adamant.