Next step forward.
Voting to move forward
A vocal contingency on Facebook, the new water cooler, coffee shop and Saturday morning dump runs all rolled into a 24/7 hour relentless complaint cycle, insists we are moving “way too fast” and we should “think this through.”
I only look to Fairfield Hills, a dormant, neglected, condemned psychiatric hospital on the prettiest property in town that we have been thinking through for over a decade. Almost two.
If the vote went down, we’d lose the grant. A yes vote gives us the funds, no takes it away. Should be a simple decision, but with our referendum history and apathy of voters, it was not a sure thing.
“Really?” she said. “You could stay here? Can you even imagine living in a town that wouldn’t support this? What kind of human being would not support tearing down that building and building a new school to bring our kids home? It’s a grant – who would ever say no??!!
I was not alone with these concerns, and I watched as Newtown rallied; a huge community effort to get out accurate information both on-line, and on the streets of town. Elected officials and PTAs. Coaches and teachers. On soccer sidelines, at the gas station and the bagel store. The town was buzzing: “Did you vote?” “Did you vote yet?”
*Please commit to doing any action possible to make a positive change where you live, so our story doesn’t become your story. Join a group in your community. Send an email. Be a friend. Find a cause. Share on Facebook. Hold a sign. Make a difference.
Sounds like my hometown…..but we don’t have the state of Wisconsin handing us money for a good reason. But we do take forever to make any decisions about things. School enrollment has been declining for almost two decades yet it wasn’t until about five or six years ago that they decided to close one of the elementary schools (the oldest of the three in town). And then they let it sit and sit and sit until one of the small, private church schools and a daycare started renting it out (as theirs was lost in a fire). If they hadn’t come along, the building would probably still be sitting empty.
the school our SH students are in now is one moth-balled in neighboring town; we are lucky it was there! glad your town was able to multipurpose school as well; and very glad not for same reason.
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