Not Listening
This is in response to many of you who have asked for some discussion on the show about Clatsop Community College.
I'd like to point out that Coastwatch Call-in is an open forum program so callers may bring up any topic they choose. If you feel strongly about CCC going for another bond election, regardless of how much they are asking for, I would encourage you to call in and bring it up.
I also understand my responsibilities in this matter so let me offer a few thoughts here.
Any bond request, regardless of size or intended use, coming from CCC to voters is dead on arrival.
Historically the public has been mistreated by the board and President of the college. It doesn't seem to matter who is on the board or who the president might be. The attitude that causes this complete disconnection between the vast majority of county residents and those cloistered in the college community is poor. They always think they know better than we do and the grand procession of funding failures over the last 20 years is the very description of insanity.
In fact the college leadership is so incapable of connecting with the rest of us they went over our heads to find the funding they did receive from the state and made risky borrowing decisions to cover what they had to match knowing they have no traction with voters.
When the last Bond measure failed the excuse was that the public just didn't understand the need and the college failed to "tell it's story". WE didn't get it.
No.
The college told it's story and once again voters told them very clearly that this community has little interest in paying any more than they already are. It's really that simple. Nothing has changed.
It was a great relief when the college board finally got part of the message and began to focus on the Jerome Street Campus. They organized a planning process. They established a timeline and used their website to publish that planning. There was some hope that things were on track and in line with community expectations. As a result the college has received some significant grants. Some of that has to be matched to be fully realized. It is a doable match and I inferred from a news release that the college would seek supporters in some fundraising to accomplish that goal. This is a good thing because it has the potential to engage more people in the process that may not be an intimate part of the college community.
Recently however the board seems to be steering a course that will take them right back to the days when you just could not trust what you were being told. They have developed a plan that costs millions more and are considering a 5 million dollar bond measure to add to this out of control project.
How much is too much? I think we have reached that point. I heard we have gone from a relatively modest 17 million to nearly 25 million.
You can give every high school senior here a hefty scholarship to a university for that kind of money.
Of course the board can ignor it's own history and forge ahead by going over our heads once again and engaging more risky borrowing. Either way you know who will really end up paying, don't you?
10 comments:
They can't tell their creditors that they'll be raising the money via fundraisers. When they hardly raise even $100,000 through fundraiser events. Only 10-30 people tend to go to these events at a time anyway.
So if you wish to donate money to the college project and not have to have a bond measure to be paying over the next 20 years.
Do the following:
Make out a secure check or money order to Clatsop Community College. Place on the check or money order where it allows you to indicate what it's use is for: place on it - "Donation for Jerome Avenus Campus Revelopment Project fund".
Also attach with the secure check or money order a letter indicating what the donation is for and how it is to be spent. Also, sign the letter. Provide a contact information for the college to verify.
Mail the donation/check to:
Clatsop Community College
1653 Jerome Ave.
Astoria, Oregon 97103
You do NOT have to be a resident of Clatsop County. Donations are not limited to borders.
Donate as much as you can afford.
Just for information purposes: If 35,000 people donated just $100. We raise $3.5 Million in total. This would also classify as a tax deduction as Clatsop Community College is a non-profit organization (a school).
Very simple. It won't be hard to raise $5 Million or even $4 Million. The college could easily work out the rest through additional grants that may appear.
Thanks, Tom! Your insight on the threat of yet another Clatsop College bond is much appreciated. The Clatsop College Information Group (CCIG) has attended every Jerome Campus Project update since the hired architects have begun their costly, elaborate designing. At each meeting, members of our group expressed concerns and asked questions about the cost and the common sense of their excessive plans. These concerns were not important to them, and the grand designing moved forward. We are not surprised that Dr. Hamann and the College Board quickly dedicated available monies, AND MORE, but we are a little surprised at the audacity of their wanting us to support another bond request (ONLY $5 MILLION!) JUST BECAUSE THEY REFUSED TO LISTEN AND "LIVE WITHIN THEIR MEANS" as we asked them to do. Now, in an email to prospective supporters, Dr. Hamann says that he will have to jeopardize "Operational and Instructional activities" (ie: Education vs. Bricks & Mortar)) if he doesn't get his full-blown project. I would encourage all who care about providing educational opportunites, without more burdensome taxes, to contact the College (503) 325-0910,or call your College Board representative and remind them how many times we have resoundingly told them NO MORE TAXE HIKES--LIVE WITHIN THEIR (OUR) MEANS, and please prioritize education, not buildings. Clatsop County can successfully have both an updated campus and be fiscally responsible. This time, let's do it right.
In this age of daily increasing transportations costs, sewage rates, recycling rates, increased property taxes even tho home values are declining, foods costs, and those endless items manufactures from petroleum by products make the college request or wish an astounding no, no and no. Time to change the management on the hill.
I think the citizens of Clatsop County have been paying attention to the issue of "The College" since day one and have been making "Their" position very clear by denying each referendum as they come and the maessage has been, in my view, "The College belongs exactly where it is on its existing campus".
Now, common sense prevails with the exception of a proposal for a $5 Million Bond, presumably to kick start the project.
Me?
My understanding is they have the money but, it is money earmarked towards enchancing the education capabilities as opposed to a building fund.
Is that correct?
Is there no other resources available to "The College" to get that start money?
If that were the case, I would vote for the appropriation so long as a final number were locked in on the total construction budget for the campus and all surprises negated.
My understanding, as well, is that there is 45 acres of developable land up there.
What's the argument, really?
McGee
Once again you have proven how ignorant you are on the many issues that you weigh in on.
Anonymous said...
McGee
Once again you have proven how ignorant you are on the many issues that you weigh in on.
Well, I'm flattered to give your ilk more fodder to feed on without any accountability whatsoever but, this really isn't about me is it?
It's really about giving deserving young men and women, all the citizens of Clatsop County as well, a venue to get the best, most affordable, post-high school education possible without having to leave the community to do so.
And with a price tag of $25 million dollars if we can lock it in, on the same magnificent location where it has been since its inception?
Ignorant?
I don't think so, more common sense really but, you knock yourself out if that's what you want to believe.
If I can help it, the college will not get another dime of my money. For 15 years the board and management have made one arrogant blunder after another. If new campus planning was the only area they have proven incompetent in, it would be one thing--but the entire institution is totally dysfunctional. Employee morale is at an all time low--and why aren't we hearing any FTE numbers, could it be that they don't really know what those numbers are? Is enrollment declining? Someone needs to be asking these questions before good money is thrown after bad!
The college has more than building problems, and for that reason I will not vote them a cent! Our daughter recently went to CCC for 2 years. I have never seen a more disorganized school. There seems to be almost no information given to students on basic things relating to registration and when they need to do things or who they need to talk to. The professors were totally disorganized and they constantly changed their syllabus. They contradicted each other and expected students to be available at their every whim and change of class lecture time.
I personally was part of a disappointing experience at CCC. I was in a cooking class in which the instructor flaked out at the end. I asked for a partial refund. None was even considered.
CCC needs to concentrate its energies on its functional and educational aspects. Just because a college is small doesn't mean it can get away with being substandard, and building new buildings will not bring up its standards.
They just don't get it. Perhaps for them these are salad days, but not for anyone else I talk to. The idea of moving a college that's now easy to walk to, bike to, or use public transportation to out to the middle of nowhere was idiotic. We told them that, twice. Now that they didn't get their way, they're going to show us how wrong we were by overcharging on the remodel? Wow, I feel remorseful--NOT.
Why, with all the Recall Fever, has the virus not reached the top of 16th St.?
Tom, so glad to have you covering this issue. You've been very fair to the college in your years of coverage, so much so that you earned the right to castigate their head in the sand actions in the past and now presently. I find CCC a sad example of a bureaucracy that typifies the word, an organization that talks to others like it, sees money flowing to them and wants to duplicate other's "success" by just pushing the public money button until the cherries all line up.
I have seen many public districts in my days do this same sort of thing, and they act no differently than drug (or gambling( addicts, complete with all the problems of withdrawal and need for rehab when their money "fix" doesn't materialize.
So realists like yourself in influential positions, as well as the public's responses at the ballot box, are part of the solution, leading, one hopes, to the college leadership ultimately listening to the taxpayers and residents of Clatsop county rather than continue to live in their ivory towers.
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