Celia Cuomo and Maurice Weitman's Letter to the Editor 02/104/10: Vote YES for Middle School Renovations

Surely you've seen the signs telling us to stop spending $100 million, or $80 million. They say they want to "save our district."

Mostly, though, what they want to save is their money. We understand.

They say that Gov. Patterson is cutting aid to our schools. But the truth is that he has committed to INCREASING aid for school renovations and building. The State knows how important it is to keep our infrastructure sound, our children safe, and our plant efficient. And the State knows how foolish it is to treat gaping wounds with band-aids.

(By the way: if for any reason the State doesn't come through, the project doesn't happen. Period. Easy.)

The people of "NO" act as though voting against the $50 million renovation project ($30 million net cost to us after NY State's contribution) will save all that money. They forget to acknowledge that a new school will cost much more.

They also neglect to say that without this responsible, long-term fix, by deferring this necessary maintenance yet again, we'd be spending MORE money over the long term, which is exactly how we got into this mess.

We have no kids or relatives in our schools. We pay close to double the median tax amount. We are far from wealthy.

But we believe in investing in our community, in our children, and in our future.

We hope you do, too, and that you will join us in voting YES on the Middle School renovations this February 9th.

Celia Cuomo
Maurice Weitman
New Paltz