[Winona Online Democracy]
Eric:
Do you consider the quote below from your post and
example of the type of "factual gathering on issues" that you
advocate?
"Between 2000 and 2002, 47,000 jobs were lost in
the State of Minnesota. From 2002 to January 2004 the Winona labor force
increased from 14,701 to 14,897 jobs. Apparently, we are doing OK in our
attempt to maintain and create jobs in Winona, despite rumor."
To me it seems more like propaganda (def. the
systematic propagation of a given doctrine). Stating the number of
jobs lost in the state during one time period and the number of jobs gained in
Winona during another time period does not provide factual information which
leads me to a logical conclusion that Winona has been successful in the
employment area. In fact, I can't dispute that your claim is false because
I don't have readily available the kind of data that would lead me
to conclude either success or failure on the City's part. Possibly you or
others have access to information which can compare Winona to other
similar-sized communitities in MN that shows we are keeping pace with our peers
in these tough economic times?
I suspect that you do have access to such data and
I wonder why you have not come forth with it rather than provide us with
propaganda and criticism? I would think that in your role it would only
benefit the City for you to do an accurate job of assessing success and sharing
that information with the public--including WOD. I for one would welcome
that kind of information on this forum.
I appreciate knowing about some of the
manufacturing or industrial growth in our community. I would be interested
to know whether the growth in those companies compares to the loss of jobs
from the loss of companies like the Knitting Mills? Again, an analysis of
both the increases and decreases over the same time period is much more
meaningful as an assessment of the economic well-being of our community.
I agree that NAFTA had a huge impact on industries
nationwide as well as locally and certainly there are many other factors over
the past four years that have influenced our local economy. The City is
not solely responsible for the outcome or economic reality. What I believe
the City is responsible for is to respond wisely to the economic realities we
all face and to be honest and forthcoming with the public about the
actions taken and the rationale behind those decisions.
I hope that WOD can strive to be a forum that
invites that kind of information and in which members can communicate civilly in
order to discriminate facts from opinions.
Kathy Seifert
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, November 08, 2004 2:06
PM
Subject: RE: [Winona] Referendum:Now
What?
[Winona Online Democracy]
Just a few comments on Paul's letter:
1) You are right Paul-the public overwhelmingly thought Mayor
Miller's
message was the right one; in fact, Mayor Miller had the highest
victory
percentage of Winona local/State candidates. It was a landslide
in
anyone's spin;
2) Past School Boards set the stage for the current
one. Paul, is it
conceivable that as a School Board member, the granting of
such Charters
helped to create the decline in student enrollment at #861? Did
you
support any building maintenance funding when you were on the
School
Board? Mayor Miller publicly supported the referendum, did you?
3) Between 2000 and 2002, 47,000 jobs were lost in the State
of
Minnesota. From 2002 to January 2004 the Winona labor force
increased
from 14,701 to 14,897 jobs. Apparently, we are doing OK in
our attempt
to maintain and create jobs in Winona, despite rumor.
4)
The City/Port Authority of Winona has helped to create many
industrial jobs
over the past few years, examples include Digicom,
We-No-Nah Canoe, Quality
Sheet Metal, River Valley Tool; Gleason
Engineering (moving from California);
etc. We are currently working on
several other possibilities. World and
national issues have shaped much
of our potential for industrial growth,
which continues to occur, but we
are not aware that the City was responsible
for NAFTA. Tell us if we are
wrong Paul;
5) The 35,000 population
number is meaningless. What is important is the
type and, we believe, the
diversity of industrial growth;
6) Why should we discriminate against
the elderly that want to retire in
Winona, from local residents to regional
residents? Many of them often
bring sizable financial portfolios with them;
7) Paul, have you thought about the major expansion at the hospital?
We
have lended Community Memorial our bond rating, saving them millions
of
dollars in order to create more facility in order to create more jobs;
8) It would be nice if WOD could concentrate more on some
factual
gathering on issues, rather than the continued Chat Room
opinion
approach.
Eric Sorensen
-----Original
Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On
Behalf Of Paul Double
Sent: Friday,
November 05, 2004 3:25 PM
To: Online Democracy
Subject: FW: [Winona]
Referendum:Now What?
Randy and others,
The reason I supported the
referendum was that I believed it was not the
school board job to create jobs
but that the city council had failed to
attract young families to the area as
employees because of the lack of
job creation and industrial expansion.
I feel that it is important to
keep the buildings and capacity to educate
larger numbers as we move our
population to a target level of 35,000
people. It is obvious to me,
that "I failed" to prove the importance of
the relationship between job
growth and maintaining school capacity or that
the community is so
intent on not changing, regressing, or becoming a
retirement community
or tourist attraction they didn't want to hear the
message..... or they
believe Jerry Miller is the better person to lead and
achieve that
growth and I hope they are right.
The district can
mothball some schools without making them Charter
Schools. It is not
the building that provides a good education but the
staff and good staff can
provide that same quality in any building they
are placed. WK and
Jefferson were designed to be 4 section schools and
should be operated as
such. Neighborhood schools went out the door
years ago when we allowed
families school choice and then provided their
brothers and sisters priority
enrollment in the school over those who
were closest.
If some parents
opt for the Charter Schools let them "if" WAPS focus is
on the quality of
public school education being second to none, they
will, at some time come
back. If we reduce our quality then any parent
who cares has no choice
but to move to a private, parochial or Charter
School option. Keep the
focus on a high quality program, math, science
and language options which are
second to none and WAPS will win in the
long run. Trying to save
buildings, save staff is in my opinion the
road to disaster.
Paul
Double
Sent: Thursday, November 04, 2004 5:01
PM
Paul, I'd like to go back to some of your platform which was
grow the
community so that schools can be filled... If we believe we can work
for
that growth to happen- isn't it prudent to keep buildings open
in
anticipation?
Also, this argument, of closing buildings doesn't
wash in my judgement
in as long as the state allows the forming of Charter
Schools so easily.
Does anyone know what happened with levy/referendum
requests across the
state? Maybe part of our "what now" is to work with
our legislators on
funding that is sufficient for schools in these times.
Will the change in the State House balance bring some truth to the
"no
new tax" position?
Randy Schenkat
Double's
post:
First and foremost I want to say is that both my wife and I voted
for
the referendum because we believe the superintendent's efforts
and
vision for warranted community support.
I believe the majority of
community who voted no believe that the school
board's procrastination and
failure to make quick and decisive building
closures and staff reductions
early to save money continues to compound
the magnitude of the corrective
actions necessary to avoid statutory
debt. The failure of the board to take
the high bid for Lincoln verses
Winona State says they still can afford to
give away money. The
question of "now what"
is that do they
understand the seriousness of their need to be decisive,
to avoid a state
takeover or will they allow it to happen.
Paul Double
--
Randy
Schenkat 1358 Skyline Dr. Winona, Mn 55987
507-452-7168
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posted to Winona Online Democracy
All messages must be signed by the senders
actual name.
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manage your subscription or view the message archives, please visit
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Any problems or suggestions can be directed to
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If
you want help on how to contact elected officials, go to the Contact page
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_______________________________________________
This message was posted to Winona Online Democracy
All messages must be signed by the senders actual name.
No commercial solicitations are allowed on this list.
To manage your subscription or view the message archives, please visit
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Any problems or suggestions can be directed to
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If you want help on how to contact elected officials, go to the Contact page at
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