Dear Mr. Fassbender,
It is with shock and dismay I read in that you are thinking that school districts now have to pay half of the costs for seismic upgrades.
This flies in the face of past commitments by both Premier Campbell and Premier Clark.
http://bc.ctvnews.ca/parents-skeptical-about-584m-promise-to-seismically-upgrade-schools-1.1229728
Plus, this doesn’t make sense. The school boards receive virtually all funding from the provincial government. Therefore to say they have to pay for half of something is like me giving a $5 allowance to my son and then saying he has to pay for half the next plumbing repair bill in the house.
Also, by changing the tone on this you just made a major delay in getting the work done.
Also, I’m still stunned by the fact that this entire seismic upgrade problem is not being tackled as one big project like a bridge or an event like the Olympics. I say this because once you get this done, it won’t recur for 100 years. Also, the funding for this should not be part of general revenue as it’s a special event.
So, here’s what you need to do.
1. Realize that we’re at risk of having a lot of kids killed by old buildings that won’t last in an earthquake. Frankly I expect you to be in the front lines pulling children’s corpses from a pile of brick along with me. Did you not see what’s happened in LA just recently?
2. Make a list of all buildings that need work. Ask each school district to deposit their current capital surpluses (if any) into a central account. Start putting money in the account from your budget. Get the Lottery Corporation to start a special lotto to raise money directly for that account.
3. Negotiate a crazy good deal with builders and repair people. Insist on bulk discounts.
It’s this simple. Seriously. It’s just work.
Stop the us-and-the-rubbish with the school boards. If you stand up and say “we fix it now and this is how” you will win.
Robert Ford
Parent of child at Henry Hudson Elementary in Vancouver. Built 1911-12.
