[Winona Online Democracy]
At 07:39 AM 6/26/01 -0500, John wrote:
>The compelling agenda for a new school was to start fresh with an all new
>facility. A hidden motive was to move the school out of the city proper,
>away from the citizenry, even if it meant placing it in a remote industrial
>zone with access problems for almost everyone, and special dangers for those
>students who wished to walk or bicycle to school.
Yup, John, you caught us. It was all lies, deceit, and trickery with no
concern for the welfare of either the kids or the Winona Community, wasn't
it? That ol' middle school was just a GREAT building for educating our
kids, in a great location to boot! Just a few coats of paint and the thing
would have been good as new. We made up those stories of falling chimneys,
overheating electrical systems, decaying walls and ceilings, etc. Why, it'
GOOD to make our kids breath asbestos and chlorine, then drink lead in their
water - toughens them up - but hey, they got fresh air when we had to bus
them to Lake Park for P.E.! Heat in the winter - that's for sissies! All
those cars whizzing by on Broadway as kids tried to cross it or got on and
off the school buses taught 'em safety real fast, right? Hey, a fire in
that old auditorium with so few exits would have been a great P.E. exercise,
with all those kids crawling over each other to get out.
I apologize for the sarcasm, but I guess I have to feel a bit sorry for
people like John who were (and apparently still are) in denial about the
condition of that building for education. Could it have been repaired?
Sure, anything can be repaired. Would that have been a good value for the
money spent? No, not even close.
I am indeed very glad to hear that there are groups who wish to
rehabilitate and reuse portions of it, but I can only hope they are going
into it with their eyes open. It is going to cost big bucks for MetroPlains
to turn it into apartments, in many places a "gut and rebuild" project.
Similarly, rehabbing the auditorium will not come cheaply. Many communities
have done this with old buildings and ended up with terrific facilities, and
I hope Winona can do the same.
A final point of perspective. I still talk occasionally to a very nice old
gentleman who can't understand why that "new school" had to be built so far
away from the main part of the city. However, he is talking about Winona
Senior High, not the middle school. At the time it was built, apparently,
many people felt it was too far away from where people lived, out on the
edges. The city changed, of course, as it will continue to do. A few years
from now, with the growth occuring north and east of it I'll bet you dollars
to donuts the new WMS will be viewed the same way WSHS is now.
Ed Thompson
******************************************************************
Ed's witty saying for this week comes from Douglas Adams:
"There is a theory which states that if anyone discovers
exactly what the Universe if for and why it is here, it will
instantly disappear and be replaced by something even
more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another which
states that this has already happened."
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