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| Photo by Steven H. Robinson |
The new Shorewood High School 450 seat theatre will be available for public use as well as school use. A jazz concert Tuesday evening is free and open to the public.
This is a significant upgrade for Shorewood, whose previous theatre was built in 1953 as a junior high auditorium with a stage.
"Tuesday evening is free and open to the public."
ReplyDeleteThere is nothing free about this theater or this school. You might have overlooked that. The $150,000,000 bond (for 2 high schools), which passed by a mere 427 votes in a February 2010 special election, was discussed in an informational presentation to the Shoreline City Council 2 weeks before the election.
On January 25, 2010 School Superintendent Sue Walker delivered what City Manager Bob Olander introduced as an "objective presentation" on the bond proposition (and 2 levies for operations and technology).
The fancy new theater at Shorewood was not mentioned (nor was the old Ronald School). Ms. Walker described the equally impressive renovation of the Shorecrest theater as simply needing "a little coat of paint and/or new fabric."
Ms. Walker corrected Mayor McGlashan's mistaken impression that the presentation she had just made was in support of the bond (which would have been illegal).
There is nothing FREE about these 2 new schools. As parents, my wife and I had the proud pleasure of watching our daughter perform on and back stage as a musician and thespian. It is about the kids, not the facilities. These theaters are an extravagance, and an unnecessary burden on the taxpayer.
The School District will be coming back to the City Council next February, asking for a renewal on their surface water management fee waiver, which is scheduled to "sunset." This short term fee credit was granted by the City Council on July 9, 2012 after the State Auditor discovered the School District had inadvertently not been billed for surface water management since the City incorporated in 1995, to the tune of $2,000,000. The District never mentioned they had not received a bill. State law prevents back billing more than 3 years, but the Council did not even do that. The School District begged for relief and got it.
When they cry poormouth again this time, remind them:
REMEMBER THE THEATERS!
If the city were to take over the Ronald Sewer, can we expect to see the city council cut a special deal with the school district there too, just to be consistent?
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