The Observation Deck

Hi,
Obama is President! He is planning to act quickly to help our economy with a huge (est. $850 billion) program. The goal is jobs and helping local communities.

Here's what I saw the other day: http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/ ... ulus_N.htm

The largest part of the package is $142 billion for schools. With strings attached...but no requirement it be for new schools. Wohoo! Maybe Lakewood Schools and its taxpayers can get some relief.

But how? Please, tell us. I would love to hear ideas on how our School System can use its share of the money (how much do they want?).

Can they employ it in a manner that also helps the larger goal of creating jobs and helping our local economy?

This money is like a pile of bird food sitting in the park waiting for the pigeons to eat it up. Where will our Lakewood School System pigeon be in this money grab? What wondrous projects can we implement now to make Lakewood shine?

Donald Farris wrote:Hi,
Obama is President! He is planning to act quickly to help our economy with a huge (est. $850 billion) program. The goal is jobs and helping local communities.

Here's what I saw the other day: http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/ ... ulus_N.htm

The largest part of the package is $142 billion for schools. With strings attached...but no requirement it be for new schools. Wohoo! Maybe Lakewood Schools and its taxpayers can get some relief.

What wondrous projects can we implement now to make Lakewood shine?

Don

Well one thing I know is that one Lakewoodite has the ear of the transition team and the Stimulus team. I have had the pleasure of lunch and coffee with him.

FWIW


.

Jim O'Bryan wrote:Well one thing I know is that one Lakewoodite has the ear of the transition team and the Stimulus team. I have had the pleasure of lunch and coffee with him.

Eat Lakewood.

Who bought lunch?

There is no need to pass a levy or bond issue as long as the feds are going to give us $6 trillion dollars in budget deficits over the next three years.

Hi,
I hope someone on the School Board is working on this.

And in a spirit of openness is willing to share with us all what they are planning.

Jim O'Bryan wrote:Well one thing I know is that one Lakewoodite has the ear of the transition team and the Stimulus team. I have had the pleasure of lunch and coffee with him.

825 billion spreads pretty thin across the whole USA. I’m glad to hear someone local has the ear of those doling out the treats. Did this Lakewoodite share any projects ideas or fund requests?

Charlie Page wrote:825 billion spreads pretty thin across the whole USA. I’m glad to hear someone local has the ear of those doling out the treats. Did this Lakewoodite share any projects ideas or fund requests?

Charlie

I know of two projects that are being presented. Really do not want to go farther than that right now.

However on the news this morning was a member of the Administration that said projects on the shores of the Great Lakes will be the first we would see get funding. All I could think of was the peninsula that so many laughed at while others like Bob Stark saw the immediate value in. I think Bob's number was $250 - $500 million for a $50 million dollar investment.

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Bill Call wrote:Who bought lunch?
There is no need to pass a levy or bond issue as long as the feds are going to give us $6 trillion dollars in budget deficits over the next three years.

I always buy lunch unless it is an elected official, then I always go dutch.

.

Hi,
I wonder if the problem is your short of ideas? I doubt it but let me assume that so I can inject my ideas on how I would like to see our windfall money spent. My idea is to propose implementing an array of different green technologies to make our Schools and City Buildings operate on renewable energies. Propose being a test bed for Solar, Wind, Geothermal and other bio fuels. Incorporate the Hospital into the plan. They use a great deal of energy. Embrace an educational aspect of teaching all ages about the benefits of green energy.

Hi,
The President clarified his proposal to help the schools:

"The current stimulus bill facing a House vote includes as much as $120 billion for public school systems, $14 billion of which would go to fix leaky roofs and boilers, install new windows and bring buildings up to a level of acceptable repair. A billion dollars would also go to modernize classrooms, providing students access to 21st century technology, like broadband Internet, computers and state-of-the-art lab facilities."

For full article see: http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/14/news/ec ... /index.htm

Gee, that does not sound good for Lakewood School System. Since Lakewood Taxpayers weathered the burden of rebuilding our schools, it's hard to imagine they are not modernized and state-of-the-art? But we all know they were not made green.

Will we let this money go to those districts that could not get community support for school improvements?

Or.. Will the School Board see that the taxpayers of Lakewood did a super job supporting for them and now they must campaign hard for getting a fair share of this money to modernize our schools to be green with renewable energies and save us operational costs in the future.

Donald,

Yesterday, the Ohio School Boards Association sent the Lakewood City Schools an update that can be viewed by clicking here.

That update also allows you to view an estimate of what our school district could receive under the current House proposal, by clicking here. Go to page 181.

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to call Treasurer Rick Berdine.

Matt