Schools
Want to Help Buy Signs to Vote NO on the $191 Million School Bond? Here's How
Real estate developers are spending $200,000 to buy an election. Building new schools in cornfields will make them lots of money. Vote NO!
Caption: Maria Houser Conzemius, about to start a bicycle ride, 2/4/2017.
Local politicians are asking voters to approve the biggest school debt project in Iowa history – $191 million. With interest, the debt will probably be more like $194 million or more in the end.
This proposal is too big and our school administrators can’t be trusted to manage these projects effectively.
The current plan would be a massive giveaway to real estate developers and other big businesses. Building schools in cornfields and building housing developments around those schools means big money for real estate developers and the banks that lend them money. That’s why they plan to spend $200,000 to buy a local election.
Find out what's happening in Iowa Cityfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
This is after closing neighborhood schools that children can walk to. Schools in cornfields require busing until housing developments can be built. Will there be money left for teachers to staff the schools after money has been spent to provide $40,000 per Durham bus to bus students to outlying schools and after paying for all of the special perks that administrators demand, especially Supt. Murley?
Check it out: Vote YES contributors include the Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce ($17,500); the University of Iowa Community Credit Union ($7,500); Hills Bank & Trust Company ($7,500); Midwest One Bank ($7,500); Hayek, Moreland, Smith, and Bergus, LLP ($2,000); Arlington Development, Inc. ($2,000); Houser Enterprises ($1,000 -- no relationship that I know of to me); Mark and Vickie Ginsberg ($1,000); Jeffrey and Michelle Disterhoft ($500); John and Penny Balmer of Plumbers Supply ($500); Mark Moen and Bobby Jett ($2,ooo); Johnson County Supervisor Rod Sullivan ($50); and so on. The total donations to the YES vote amount to $55,125.12, all in cash, at last count. Cash on hand is $42,164.13 at last count. Those numbers are dated at this point. The Vote YES folks probably have more now.
Find out what's happening in Iowa Cityfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Vote no on September 12 in the Iowa City School District.
If you want to help buy Vote NO signs to spread throughout the Iowa City Community School District to alert voters that a massive giveaway is about to be voted on September 12th, you can contribute on the following website:
https://votenoseptember12.org/
Last I knew, the Vote NO vote committee had about $1,100, maybe a little more. Some checks are in the mail, including my own. We could use some help.