Todd Paris, Associate Editor and Salisbury Attorney with Chuck Hughes, Board of Education
♦ Earlier this morning Chuck Hughes posted a response to Todd Paris on the Rowan Free Press and below is a “side by side” response from Todd Paris (Todd’s replies are in bold):
Chuck Hughes: It is refreshing to have an online conversation with Mr. Paris without maligning each other. Still, I will reluctantly keep my response short and point out some facts that he may have missed.
Todd Paris: I’m have no interest in “maligning” Chuck, but if he doesn’t stop this foolishness I might run against him.
First, his comments about shutting down “perfectly good” schools:
Chuck Hughes: I appreciate Todd’s nostalgia for these 1920/1930 elementary schools. Although new when he enrolled, they are now 89 years old, and it is just a matter of time before the brick and mortal give way to father-time, that is if the old man is not already surveying his stock.
Todd Paris: Thanks, Chuck. I’m 53 years old. I bet you have neck-ties older than me. I started school in 1968. In East Rowan, you are moving Morgan kids to Rockwell and Granite which are both former High Schools before desegregation and not newer. Both elementary schools have substantial new energy efficient additions built in the last thirty years you are abandoning. My friends in Europe tell me that children there attend school in nice updated buildings, often built before the American Revolution. I note the original first building at UNC, “Old East” had its cornerstone laid on October 12, 1793, and it is still in use as a residence hall. When I attended, living there was highly prized and you had to sign-up for a lottery to get a chance to get in. According to “Wiki” “It is the oldest building originally constructed for a public university in the United States.” By the way Chuck, if you think “the rapture” is at hand, don’t waste money on new schools. For the money you are getting ready to spend you could send all of Rowan’s students for a final pilgrimage to “the holy land.”
Chuck Hughes: Clearly these schools will have to be replaced in the near future, or have money wasted on modernizing heating and air systems that eat up thousands of wasteful dollars each year. However, that is contingent on if the upgrades can actually be done on buildings not designed to accommodate modernization. And if they could, it is likely that the technical modernization would out-live the buildings themselves.
Todd Paris: This does not take into account the tens of millions wasted in new energy efficient additions we have bought and paid for since the 80’s that you will wastefully abandon. As for building life, these gabled roofed buildings have, and will far outlive the flat roofed replacements built in the 50’s and 60’s. Have you seen the pics of Dunbar in East Spencer? Ask County Chair Greg Edds about the expense of replacing the flat roof on the West End Plaza.
Chuck Hughes: About the removal of the old structures and asbestos when they finally die. The fact is, this issue will have to be addressed eventually despite consolidation.
Todd Paris: Inaccurate. We Republicans took power and changed the federal rules on asbestos a few years back. Now we don’t require removal, just “encapsulation.” In abandonment scenarios like the Dunbar, a “superfund site”, you can see the exposed asbestos in the wreck of our old school, no doubt blowing through the neighborhood like dandelions in an updraft. Most the houses surrounding Dunbar are for sale. I used to do asbestos litigation. Death by mesothelioma is not pretty and it takes just one inhaled fiber and a little bad luck.
Chuck Hughes:The issue of “tens of millions of dollars” for new buildings is an understatement. We will eventually need to replace many more schools and do so in a short period of time (see the other elementary schools and construction dates below.)
Todd Paris: Egads, Chuck! In a failing county with a non-functioning economic development commission and zero population and economic growth where do you expect to find a hundred million dollars? Are you really going to ask Judy, Jim and Greg for a 10 cent property tax increase? What about retired folks struggling on limited incomes? You need to go back to “Republican School” Remember we are supposed to be the guys for lower taxes?
Chuck Hughes: At a minimum, we are looking at $60 million to $100 million in the next five years or so just to get these projects started. You can blame this on years of neglect and planning failure. The current board is trying to “catchup” and is in the process of long-term construction plans.
Todd Paris: So you guys on the BoE have neglected these buildings for years and now want to tax the heck out of us and bus our kids day and night and spend 100 million Dollars on new schools that we do not need all because we have EXCESS school capacity? We have “EXCESS SCHOOL CAPICITY” Chuck, and you want to spend 100M on more schools?
Chuck Hughes: If the influx of industry does occur, then the county wealth will take care of all the new schools we want.
Todd Paris: Oh Dear. At least it’s clear you wrote this one yourself!
Let me make this simple, Chuck. I have a 2007 Ford 250 4X4 Super Crew pick-up with 90K miles on it. It cost me $40K new back in the day and it’s paid for. It’s having reliability issues and I keep spending about $2K a year on maintenance and repairs.
Its new replacement at the Ford place is $65K and the payments would be around $1,100 per month for years to come.
While I would save the 2K per year maintenance costs by buying the new truck that savings would be totally obliterated by over TWELVE THOUSAND DOLLARS per years in new debt service payments”.
Todd Paris:
Chuck Hughes:
Chuck Hughes’s Letter-to-the-Editor to which Todd Paris is Responding:
