"The Official Portrait of Miss InDiana"

"The Official Portrait of Miss InDiana"
aka "Miss Victory"

Monday, December 10, 2007

Coming soon to a neighborhood near you?

Here are some lovely photos of White River School, closed 20 years ago, taken in October of this year. The park district is leasing this land for 1 dollar per year, with the understanding that they would demolish the school. Looks like they're letting time do the work for them. The school is FULL of usable stuff. Desks, bookshelves etc. Even a garage sale for heaven's sake would generate some money.
So now Washington Township says they want to close Harcourt School. They promise to be good neighbors. Like they're being good neighbors to the homeowners across from White River School? I hope the neighbors of Harcourt don't fall for that line. This is what happens when careless people are spending other people's money, namely YOUR money. They are completely oblivious to the waste, the lost revenue possibilities, the effect on your neighborhood. You can bet nobody on the Washington Township School Board lives across the street from White River School OR Harcourt School.


9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Are you arguing the schools shouldn't be closed??? How does that benefit the taxpayer?

Look at the stats for Washington Township--enrollment has stagnated and started to decline as the population ages.

The board needs to close schools. Just tell them to include demolition when closing them. Some of these properties (not the building, just the land) can be redeveloped into housing and that is a big benefit to the taxpayers.

Anonymous said...

Get your facts straight...not everyone's taxes will increase 400%. Your long term credibility is jepordized when the 9 people you get fired up realize that your bull is part of the problem not the solution.

Anonymous said...

A solid school district is fundamental to all WT residents. IF you do not have kids in the schools even you must realize that when you sell your home a strong selling point will be a good school district.

Anonymous said...

Mixing issues aren't we? What happened at White River happened under a different set of adminstrators. I agree, state what the long term plan is for mothballed buildings, but let's get honest...we want efficency not just bitching!

Anonymous said...

Sounds like friends of Mervilde are writing in anonymously! We've noticed via our stat counter, that all kinds of school system people are reading our site. You think we make them nervous? They have a lot to lose for being publicly exposed.

Penny Bigelow and Greg Wright were on Abdul this morning and made a great point. They suggested maybe we should look at closing down the administration building (with Mervilde's private bath) which would bring a lot of money back to the taxpayers if sold.

Then they suggested that the administrators take offices within the schools so they could be close to the kids, whose educations (not construction projects) are supposed to be their main concern.

They also mentioned that even thought the school board is lobbying to spend $200 million (more than the library debacle), the teachers and parents are paying for school supplies out-of-pocket!

We think Mervilde & Co. are spending too much time with the likes of Schellinger architects and big construction companies and not enough time with the kids!

Let's change that, shall we?

Citizens UNITE against the educrats!

By the way, educrats, if you want to have some credibility on our blog....SIGN YOUR NAME and be proud of your stance! Don't pansy around with anonymous postings!

M Theory said...

It's great how much "9 people" can get up the ire of the educrats who are mismanaging the tax dollars of an entire township!

Mervilde, it's ok to post to our blog and sign your name. We don't bite, although we may cost you your job one day if you don't straighten up.

Anonymous said...

Referring to yourself as Melyssa does not make you "less" anonymous! And you are Melyssa who?

Do you even live in Washington Township or are you from another state entirely?

How do you manage to tie the central library to spending a school district? One is not related to the other. Find a better flash point.

Just how does moving adminstrators out of one building to many create a less costly and more efficent environment? Isn't that that the goal...where is that plan posted I would love to read it? Certainly Greg has thought through that? NOT.

I attended a school board meeting and heard Greg advocate closing any school...seems like he is begining to contradict himself! Can we say self absorbed egotist?

In over ten years as a parent I have not had ONE request for supplies for the classroom that were necessary because of budget concerns. I would gladly review any examples you have to share.

Melyssa...don't let emotion guide your thinking soon people will think you support Hillary for president!

Anonymous said...

I am Melyssa Donaghy, a Libertarian and founder of this blog. Most know me as the woman who started the property tax protests beginning with the 4th of July press conference at the Governor's mansion which closed down Meridian Street. Remember that?

I also organized the protests at City County Council this summer that ultimately helped usher in a new mayor and flushed out a lot of the bad apples on the council.

I organize the statewide Indiana Tea Parties and helped organize group of activists that are forcing widespread government reform.

Born from the network that we established, the Indiana Voters League PAC was formed by Ken Morgan, a former executive with the Department of Energy.

The Indiana Voters League released 40,000 slate cards into the community, hand-to-hand, just weeks before the November election upset that cost Bart Peterson his job.

I am also a Meridian Kessler homeowner whose taxes went up 100% in 2003 and 150% in 2007.

If you google my name, you can find out exactly who I am. I am a woman who did something that is making a difference to taxpayers.

The library, at $150 million, is a bloated debacle of government spending to which the whole city can relate. I used it as an example to show that Washington Township and Mervilde wants $50 million MORE than the library debacle.

Now....who are you "Dave"? Are you an educrat or an educrat wannabe?

By the way, don't you think there are way too many administrators? The teachers I talk to think so.

Anonymous said...

melyssa, you have done a fantastic job raising awareness and organizing events that made a big difference. anyone who doesn't get that hasn't been paying attention.

when are we going to start putting the same heat on IPS? taxes for homeowners in IPS are 57% more than for those in MSDWT.

if IPS goes for that 3rd bond next spring, our taxes will jump again.

have you been paying attention to white's comments? he is trying to perpetuate the property tax status quo.