Duluth schools lone bright spot in grim building year
February 2, 2012 at 6:00 pm in Duluth News Tribune
Last year probably wasn’t so hot for you if you work in residential construction in Duluth.
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Duluth schools lone bright spot in grim building year
19 Comments
LRFP kept some folks employed. Gotta’ give it that much. Hope the construction market keeps coming around.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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Sure steal from the taxpayers and give the money to unions so they can contribute to Dumb-o-crat candidates. You know, maybe some of us don’t like that cycle of theft.
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Or steal it from taxpayers to support non-union companies who almost unanimously support right wing causes.
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Wow, Great! – Imagine how “bright” it would be if a majority of the projects for the District had actually gone to local companies instead of out of town companies? Seriously, the rest of us are tucking in and being conservative with our big expenditures during a downturn- putting off buying new cars and new kitchen cabinets until we can safely afford them – But not the school district. No wonder their backup fund has dwindled down to less than 6 million.
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“Only 41 units of new housing were built in Duluth in 2011 at a cost of about $6.4 million. ” —– That’s an average of only $156,000 per new housing unit. Was it all low-income apartments?
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Ugh. EB, ask the guys that did the LRFP work what they and their families think about it. There were plenty of local employees involved in the construction projects.
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Mike, I am pleased that many local families kept working during the tough times. Just pointing out the obvious – everyone is tucking in during lean times, except the School District. Because of these lean times, we have lost many teacher’s positions (and I am sure their families are a bit sad about that) – so trading one position for another is not so good. I would have hoped that a reasonable LRFP would have spread the available money around so we could keep as many families working on both sides as possible.
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How about any families having work during this economic downturn? You’ve made your point abundantly clear regarding your opinion of the LRFP – many times over.
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Imagine how less bright the west hillside would be if they would ever shut the lights off at the western castle facility.
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Jeesh, it’s not like they’re working around the clock. Why lights on all night? Drives me crazy when I drive by on the freeway.
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Vandalism, Josiah.
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I have no faith and trust in the wisdom or intentions of anyone involved in bulldozing a less than 10 year old stadium, fieldhouse and playing fields at the Ordean site that cost millions of dollars. A grotesque, abhorent disgrace. That in itself shows the arrogant superiority those in government. A total, utter complete waste of other peoples hard earned money, just as if they put the money in a pile and burned it.
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I am curious as to whom “thumbs down” my comment and your rational for being in support of destroying millions of dollars of property other than the likelihood that you dont pay taxes and therefore don’t care about spending other peoples money. You probably can’t fathom the danger that our current president has added 7 trillion dollars to our national debt nor do you care about that either. Truly sad.
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Paul. You are very good at hitting the bulls-eye on the wrong target. You’re good at identifying people who make decisions (the president, the school board), but you’re not looking into the details of WHY those decisions had to be made.
You’re blaming Obama for government spending during his term, but most of that spending was for programs that were created before his inauguration. The Bush tax cuts, the 2 wars, Homeland Security, etc. They are still costing us to this day, especially that we’re in a recession. Obama didn’t just whip up 7 trillion and piss it away. Ultimately though, any president, including Bush and Obama, are just a face for a bigger system at play. Big banks and big industry are the ones really running the national show.
As for the school board, they didn’t execute the Red Plan very well at all. That’s true. There was little public input, and a lot that was overlooked (parking space, walkways, incorporating the surrounding neighborhoods, etc). That said, it seems like the whole purpose of the Red Plan was to invest money now to save more in the long run, not “put it in a pile and burn it”. The school district is doing exactly what every other sector is doing: consolidating. From retail shops to churches, everybody is consolidating to cut costs. The short term costs that you’re complaining about are inevitable in any merger. But the long term savings of operating fewer facilities has yet to be seen.
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Merv: The “blame Bush” excuse has run its course after three years, two with a majority, the buc stops at Obama. I disagree with you: I very much believe the half a billion dollars, tax dollars mind you, was wasted and lost on Solyndra thanks to Obama and his “green” campaign. That is by definition P@$#ing away money.
As far as the Red Plan, if they couldnt forsee the parking issue, they have no business advising anyone on anything and it takes imagination to rationalize how destroying a nearly new multi million dollar facility as anything positive for the “future” except to show the inmates are running the asylum. A liberal cannot understand that your voice repesents about 1/6 of the population, so you do not speak for the people. Check your ratings ever?
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Paul, you are using every small-world argument in the book. Programs that previous presidents enact still exist. They just don’t magically go away after a president is out of office. Clinton’s AmeriCorps program still exists. Bush’s two wars still exist. You can’t argue that. As for the “green” campaign, our government gives FAR more to fossil fuel energy companies than it does for green energy. Probably why green energy can’t compete.
And where did you get your last “facts”? Fox News? Over half of the population leans to the left, actually. How else did Obama get elected? And that doesn’t even count all the far-left people, like the Occupy folks, who don’t vote at all. Also, I would hardly say that the DNT blog is representative of the the total population. This is the ultra-right troll zone. That’s why most liberals don’t even bother commenting on here, because people like you don’t even realize how ridiculous you sound.
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Here, Here!
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(Chortle)
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Well Merv, I remember promises like closing GITMO, troops out of Afghanistan….didnt quite happen like promised, did it. World harmony, ” Change this country, we’re gonna CHANGE the world!” Didnt quiote happen that way did it? Unless you get your news from MSNBC, Maddow, etc. Boring. if you think most of the country is left leaning, you are so uneducated i cannot help you. I noticed you didnt respond to the Solyndra fiasco. How typical. That doesnt make it go away, Merv. The loss of 500 milllion dollars is still the loss of 500 MILLION DOLLARS!!!!!
how did Obama get elected? Small minded, easily swayed people waiting for some government con man to tell them how to think..by a celebrity giving them a tingle up their leg. Pathetic.That would be you. I live by the creed of my grandparents and parents, aunts and uncles who lived through the depression and WWII… the practical, common sense mindset thru which they lived their lives, use your head, work hard, and take care of yourself.Modern liberalism has removed the “man” from manhood.Simpering, whining,crybabys always complaining, forgetting how to stand up and take care of yourself and your family. if you really knew what you were talking about, you would understand and know that most of the country is center right, but i dont consider you educatable. See where your “ideal” has got us? record debt, obscene spending a deficit unimaginable and civil unrest not seen in 40 years. Like a stupid little kid, the adults have to do whats in your best interest while you flail about in your leftist derangement. get a real job, Merv. pay taxes like a man. That may change your perspective….lastly..liberals in Duluth dont voice their opinion?? You lose any small amount of credibility with such a ridiculous statement. Liberals are inherently loud and smug in their feelings of moral superiority. BYW: Inherent basically means a quality you possess, or lack of quality. Your main problem is you are a leftist zealot, most that disagree with you are basically center right. Extremism is a disease and you are an extremist.
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