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Connect NC Bond referendum

george h w b

Posted 10:18 pm, 03/16/2016

averagebear.....did you read the whole bond issue? It was a bait and switch on the public. True, it might create a few job, but most will be wasted on things that are not needed. Only thing I would have supported was the NG armory/building. Just like was mentioned in the JP, the college may ask the commissioners for a $2 million match of funds. Would that be tax money?

aFicIoNadoS

Posted 10:09 pm, 03/16/2016

I disagree about the details. I felt that they weren't specific enough and too open ended on where money would or may go. It was another grand idea on paper, but is another setup for waste and misdirection. I never doubted it was going to pass because the lemmings won't ever go against something that's marketed as being for the children. But I still voted no to make a statement.

averagebear

Posted 10:20 am, 03/16/2016

This is a good bond. Many that voted against the bond have absolutely no idea of the details, just like most of the people that voted for Ashe County Commissioners never even bothered to read the questions and candidates answers in the local papers. The Ashe County voter base is a truly uniformed, hard-headed, one trick pony. Just vote against it and; "Hey, I recognize that name. He's a Republican and a good Christian fellow." (sigh)

hangsleft

Posted 9:41 am, 03/16/2016

http://connect.nc.gov/

I'm in SC so of course I don't get a vote, but I did look over the plan.

Money for schools, parks, infrastructure which will in turn create jobs. I looked at the financing and that seems sound, so I'm not sure where the real downside may be.

As I said, I'm not in NC so I didn't hear much about it.

george h w b

Posted 8:21 am, 03/16/2016

Another piece of bulltish that the people of North Carolina voted for. Most of the peeps only listen to what they hear on the news or TV and do no research. Gonna be a lot of money wasted here. Look at all the money going to UNC. Political supporters in the triangle area will get their pockets lined.

Oogie

Posted 7:17 am, 03/16/2016

It passed as I predicted. The voters see it as "free stuff" as Bernie and Hillary have conditioned them.

YouNeverEvenCalledMeByMyName

Posted 10:04 am, 03/15/2016

While you wallow in your own self pity on how the education system failed you, let me remind everyone of the benefits of the education system.


The community college system has responded to the needs and adapted to the changing climate over the past 30 years. Has the training been outdated, at times yes, but because of the lack of funding and bureaucracy that did not allow the curriculum to change fast enough.

I can't speak for all colleges but locally the college has been one of the biggest assets in the time of need.

In the 80-90s the college provided specialized classes to Leviton, Gates, Blue Ridge Electric, Chemi-con. As these facilities downsized they provided training for Tigra, Oldham and when those left Smiths and GE. They were there when Leviton, Thomasville, and Gates left. They have played a large roll in keeping industry here are drawing what is here now.

There are things that need to be changed and are changing. All colleges no matter the size are beginning to use data to drive their programs. It has been the focus of the current University system board to provide education that matches the economic and workforce needs. To your credit, in the past that was not the case and we have churned out degrees that are worthless. However, I am and was responsible for doing my own research when I chose my degree. I had come to the conclusion that I was choosing a degree that I would have to move away from this area to utilize but I was lucky enough to get a job offer and was able to stay.

Education is not a guarantee of a job, but rather a tool needed to market yourself. It shows employers you took the time and commitment to complete our education. There are classes that I will never use, but there are classes that I picked up valuable skills that had nothing to do with the information being taught. Teamwork, communication, and adversity. As a matter of fact, at a jobs seminar once a group of employers was asked what skills they wanted coming out of college. Not one single person wanted job specialized skills. They wanted communication, math, teamwork, character building,etc... One HR person said if you teach them the math skills we will teach them anything they need to know about our technology.

Vega

Posted 8:22 am, 03/15/2016

There is more than enough benefit to our area and western NC to warrant support for this bond. I voted FOR this referendum.

burleyman

Posted 4:59 am, 03/15/2016

If I can believe what I read, the majority goes to higher education. Post secondary education, both undergraduate and graduate school, were two of the biggest disappointments in my life. Interaction with a community college was also disappointing . Grades 1 through about 8 were just the opposite and I'm eternally grateful for those elementary school teachers.


Going from no indoor plumbing to today's modern conveniences and comparatively easy living has been an amazing experience. If not for the military draft forcing me away, it could have turned out much differently. The military GI bill provided for a college education (engineering) my family could never afford, and I was very nervous about competing with the brightest and best from places with much more affluence. The ignorant hillbilly stigma.


Undergraduate school was not extremely difficult, and there I began to see education in a different light. It was a place for those wanting to escape the drudgery of other occupations, and the colleges provided good pay, benefits, and a controlled, elitist club. Although somewhat disgusted by the snobs, it seemed like a good racket.


After getting an industrial position, I pursued a graduate (MA) degree geared towards teaching. What a farce. My fellow middle-aged students were almost all teachers within some school system who were pursuing graduate degrees for pay raises and to escape teaching for administrative positions. I swallowed my pride and somewhere in my junk is a MA degree I've never used and never mention to anyone. Most educators, healthcare, and government employees I know wear those degrees like badges of honor and plaster letters after their names proudly. If I had a large student debt for the education I received, I'd be suicidal.


The B.S. degree got my foot in the door of the industrial world, even though from a practical standpoint, it was basically worthless. Basically worthless because industry was light years ahead of education, and what I was taught was completely outdated and irrelevant


The Community College system in the area has been around for 50 years. Its premise from day one has been meeting the needs of the local community, and especially touted is its role in providing education to entice industry to the area via an educated workforce. What's happened over those years?


Jobs have continued to disappear, except for those in education, government, healthcare, and the ones nobody already here wants. Where is the industry and jobs that were touted as reasons for tax dollars all those years? Ones that could remain solvent for decades?


The jobs are government jobs and jobs at educational institutions, all paid via taxes, from the main honcho to the janitor/maintenance/groundskeepers. All of those jobs are sought after and often politically connected. People are glad to have them. I stayed with industry because of better pay and benefits years ago. Now that seems reversed.


Once a technical program has been implemented at a community college, it generally continues even if demand for graduates and enrolled students has dwindled. In industry, that is the downsizing/rightsizing/plant closings/pay and benefits erosion that has been happening for years outside the hallowed halls of education and government. I lucked out and barely escaped. I feel like, and evidently am, a dying elephant of the industrial age.


After serving as an advisor to a technical curriculum and listening to stories of fund diversions, technical instructors with university degrees being looked down upon by elitist liberal arts administrators, shown frivolous position appointments and power plays, I became disgusted with the whole good old boy mess. It's been nearly a decade, so I'm out of touch and maybe things have changed. I doubt it.


That being said, there are still some well meaning, hard working employees in the system providing valuable training.


But is throwing more tax dollars at the problem to be shuffled willy-nilly the answer? Can EVERYONE have a government job/benefits/retirement or handouts forever?


Healthcare was one of the last big hopes for skilled labor and is now under attack for pay and benefits. Educational institutions have been churning out RNs for decades, but there is still a shortage of direct patient care nurses. Of those that don't pursue higher degrees and join the very bloated middle management slots, many simply quit. Now, gov't employees/educators generally have more generous retirement benefits than health care professionals.


Dear old Mom did her best to persuade me to use family influence to get a county job long ago. I lucked out in private industry. I would now advise a young person to enjoy the gov't gravy scrapings until the last bit is sopped.


But the gov't still asks the taxpayers to add more gravy.

wc parent

Posted 12:33 am, 03/11/2016

I am not against any item listed in the bond, but I am against the fact the public K-12 education is MISSING!

A great deal of money is being proposed for colleges and universities who charge students to attend. Manynof these entities also get millions from benefactors and private donations. These schools accept the students they choose to accept.

Public schools are for ALL STUDENTS. There is no charge to attend, and public schools cannot turn students away.

Supposedly the lottery was to help public education, but as money came in from the lottery, the powers to be in Raleigh starting cutting funds that were normally allocated for public schools. Then they started to reduced the percentage of lottery money payable to public schools.

Whether or not you think the public schools are doing a good job, they are all that most of the students in NC have, and as resent budgets have shown, less and less is being spent for the education of our children.

Each voter must make his/her own decision about the bond issue. I urge you to think about which vote is best for the children in NC.

backwater

Posted 8:56 pm, 03/10/2016

The $ 75 million going to the NC National Guard is a big question for me.

Crypt

Posted 7:18 pm, 03/10/2016

The worst thing a society can do is to leave debt for a future generation. Have we degraded to nothing more than a bunch of spoiled brats? Let's live within our means people and not burden our children.

antithesis

Posted 5:43 pm, 03/10/2016

This is kind of interesting. The bill suggests funnelling a lot of money to colleges, which is already shady because the colleges can then use the money for anything they want without public knowledge. So the state can give $100,000 to a college, then that college can give $80,000 to someone else and no one would ever know.

So the list of who has been paying to market the bill is pretty interesting:

http://cf.ncsbe.gov/cf_rpt_...DID=195015

Not surprisingly, the colleges are the ones paying for it! They invest $160,000 now, the bill passes, they get $5 million return. Not a bad investment!

And then look at all of the contractors that invested $10,000. You have to assume that they know they'll be doing the work once the bill passes, so they invest $10,000 now and get $100,000 in return.

The whole thing is just as shady as can be. The state claims to have had a $1 billion surplus over the last 2 years, so they shouldn't need to borrow $2 billion that we'll have to pay back in the future, anyway. And they definitely don't need to borrow money so that they can just funnel it to their buddies!

Oogie

Posted 7:26 pm, 03/09/2016

I like some of the proposed projects. Trust government? "You can keep your plan--". Some democrats say that the "Affordable Health Care Plan passed by a wide margin- it was by one vote. So I do not trust them. And some of our Yadkin commissioners are not to be trusted.
I think that the bond issue will pass. I will vote NO in order to try show them that it is not an open season to just run wild.
Not much but it is all that I can do.

underdog2

Posted 10:08 am, 03/09/2016

Yogi that has been one of my concerns. Like always we are at the end of state out of sight out of mind. However I am able to understand that an area with a million people in it are always going to be first.

#Worstpresidentever

Posted 10:01 am, 03/09/2016

No No No.

averagebear

Posted 9:58 am, 03/09/2016

To be absolutely honest, it wouldn't matter how the vote for this bond goes via Ashe County voters or other counties like us. This bond will definitely be decided upon in the urban areas (the Triad, Research Triangle area, and Charlotte).

Heels09

Posted 7:29 pm, 03/08/2016

No, it's not an open pocket book...it's flexibility and smart governing. But if you want to waste money by locking each project in....then go ahead.

smalltownman

Posted 7:27 pm, 03/08/2016

Heels, the point I'm trying to make is; we can have nice things, but put a dollar amount to each project, don't leave an open pocketbook lying around any group in charge in Raleigh.

Heels09

Posted 7:25 pm, 03/08/2016

It makes no difference what projects I am talking about, it's not going to change anyone's mind. I am simply stating there are projects that have been waiting for funds for a long time.

Simply put....This is the reason we can't have nice things" :)

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