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Show f 4 The Magna Time, Wet Valley Nwi A Km Chronicle, May 16, 2002 Editorial Letters to the Editor MAGNA TIMES Second class postage paid at USPS 325-58- 0 Magna, Utah 84044 Understaning education budgets 8980 West 2700 South Magna, Utah 84044 J. HOWARD BONNIE STAHLE Advertising Manager OHice Manager STAHLE Publisher MIKE WINDER Staff Writer S. DEAN LEDBETTER Staff Writer KOLBY REBER Production Manager Graphic Layout Designer DEBBI OLSON Editor DALE SIMONS Sports Columnist change of address to: Magna Times Copyright, Magna TlmeaWest Valley News . All rights reserved. Reproduction, reuse, or transmittal of all matter herein is prohibited without prior written permission by the publisher or editor. The Magna Times and West Valley News are published each Thursday Subscription $18 per year $21 per year out of state 8930 W. 2700 So. Magna, UT 84044 8 (801) 5 or FAX (801) 250-565- 250-568- magwestxmisslon.com The Magna Timet It a bonified newspaper Postmaster: Send Utah Member of the Press Association Council should support Colosimo housing project Readers of this newspaper will be familiar with our coverage of the Colosimo Brothers project, an 18 acre mixed-us- e development at West Valleys eastern gateway at 3300 South and 1300 West. The unique development has upscale housing located above trendy retail storefronts. It also includes a chic apartment complex and condominiums to combine for 300 residential units. The project is just the sort of smart growth West Valley needs for a sophisticated gateway. Located directly across the street from the Cultural Center, it would allow residents to work, shop, live, and play all in a walkable community. It will help put West Valley City on the map as a progressive, mature city. This project was embraced at public hearings by city staff and the Planning Commission only to be denied by a shocking vote of 4 to 3 by the City Council. Mayor Gearld Wright, Russ Brooks, and Barbara Thomas voted in favor. Margaret Peterson, Carolyn Burt, Joel Coleman, and Steve Vincent shot it down. Denying this project was a great mistake. The reasons for denying it included the complaint that the city has enough apartments. While West Valley does have a high share of apartments than some neighboring communities, it is unrealistic to expect million dollar homes on the Colosimo property. Frankly, the city is fortunate to have the Colosimo proposal before them, considering that the area is surrounded by 1 lub Cap Heaven and trailer parks. The proposed development's rental units are of a class that the Westside has not seen before, w ith average rents in the $900's. It has the opportunity to set soon-to-be-bu- ilt the standard by which other multi-famil- y units must step up to in order to remain competitive. It is also an ignorant value judgement to consider all apartment dwellers as "bad city residents," which is what hasbeen implied by some council members. While it is sometimes a challenge for local schools to have a more transient studentbody, which multi-famil- y dwellings often contribute to, the district is begging for more students. There are a growing number of "empty nesters," young professionals and newlywed couples that do not want a lawn to mow or to have to get in an automobile ' simply to pick up a few things from the neighborhood market. We see struggling storefronts along 3500 South, such as the old property. How will the city ever revitalize this business corridor without residents nearby to shop there? Some say that by waiting for the Cultural Center to develop, better uses will be attracted across the street. The reality is that while the city waits out the years for that to happen, the Colosimo sight could fill up with storage units, pawrn shops, or other uses less desirable to have near a cultural attraction. The proposal would turn land that is currently blighted and used as a dumping ground into something great. The swampy pond on the site would be cleaned up and turned into an amenity, for example. A park on the site will contribute to the cityis green space. With the Colosimo project. West Valley City has an opportunity to experiment with the future - quality mixed-us- e developments - and begin the revitalization of 3300 South. Waiting for something better to come along in this area could backfire and prove disastrous. Food-for-Le- ss Editor, There seems to be a significant degree of misunderstanding about the effects of the Utah Legislature 's actions related to school funding. School leaders have been accused of talking out of both sides of their mouths. On one hand, the critics say, superintendents have praised the Legislature for not cutting into public education budgets as deeply as they might have. On the other hand, they are Announcing class size increases, cuts in programs and other measures to offset budget deficits. What needs to be understood is that the Legislature dealt with two budget issues during its sessions this state year. One was the 2001-0- 2 slashed which was budget, by $256 million. Education statewide absorbed $1 1.9 million of that cut. The Legislature heard the concerns school officials put forward. When these budget cuts were proposed, the cur rent school year was more than half over and major cuts would have been tibly devastating. . The Utah School Boards Association and the Utah School Superintendents Association are on record as having praised the Legislature for its actions in regard to the 2001 02 budget. The Legislature then turned to the 2002-0- 3 budget, which is the budget that will fund education programs for the upcoming school year. It is this budget that has school officials concerned. The legislature added just $1 6 to the Weighted Pupil Unit and cut more than $27 million from various centage (in the Granite School District, it is 88 percent) of the budg- -' et is related to employee salaries and benefits. Couples with fluctuating enrollments, a flat economy and increases and new costs, districts are facing significant shortfalls. In Granite District, the deficit is abour $7.7 million to simply maintain status quo for the 2002-0- 3 school year. Public education was not severely hurt by the Legislature for 2001-0but 2002-0- 3 will be a difficult year for school districts. Perhaps the Legislature really didn't understand that by not adequately funding the 2002-0- 3 budget school districts face significant challenges that may impact every classroom in programs. Even without any budget cut, it the state. It also means Utah will make no , would be nearly impossible for school districts to bance their progress toward moving our of the because .. of pnging Jast place in terms of pupil funding budgets increased costs, especially the cost of and having the largest class health insurance. Most districts j size in the nation. statewide will have to increase class size or cut programs. Stephen F. Ronnenkamp For school districts, a huge per- - , Superintendent -- 2, Buckle up for safety Editor, Taking that extra second to make sure everyone in the car is buckled up increases you and your families chances of surviving an automobile crash. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administratoon reports safety belts reduce your chance of death in a serious crash by 45 percent if you are a front seat occupant. Even more important, child safety seats reduce fatal injury by 71 percent for infants and by 54 percent for toddlers in passenger cars. But sadly, motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for Letters Welcome Readers are encouraged to share opinions by sending . letters to the Editor, Magna Times West Valley News, 8980 W. 2700 S. Magna, Ut. 84044, letters can also be sent via 5 fax to or at 250-568- ail magwestxmission.com children ages 4 and 56 percent crossed the median while traveling of all children under 15 years old on the interstate. Her vehicle went were killed in car crashes in 2000 over an embankment and rolled were completely unrestrained. .several times. To this day she is Think of what it might do to a thankful for the lives she protected, if own and her two children by don't wear her seat family you your belt and are permanently disabled the simple fact that they were all or die as a result of an automobile wearing their seat belts. crash? Last year more than 40,000 peochildren without a Imagine your ple lost their lives in traffic crashes mother or a father or the possibiliand more than half of those people were unbuckled. Seat belts save ty of not seeing your child grow lives. Dont be a statistic. Buckle up. Pat keegan never thought she'd up every trip, every time. be in an automobile crash, because she was always watching out for Louis R. DeCarolis the other driver, until the day her Regional Administrator vehicle was broadsided by a driver National Highway Traffic Safety Administration traveling the other direction who , . Leave Microsoft alone i "i'Su i O;.. vuj Editor, Utah is in need of jobs. We should do all we can to coattail on the Olympics like our Governor has suggested. If we are pushing technology, then why does Attorney General Mark Shurtleff continue to participate in the lawsuit against Microsoft? Bill Gates testified that Li jluii. lifi 5.11 .JMl.n ..II pursuing the states remedies will only cause the Microsoft company to change its practices to the detriment of the consumers. I certainly don't want the state of Utah responsible for a downturn in technology. It defeats the Governors goals. LaRae Herbert Salt Lake City Why don't American kids know their history? Typically, things happen for a reason. It's all cause and effect. Like this report, the one from the Department of Education saying that graduating high school seniors in the United States have virtually no knowledge of American history. I suspect that has happened for a reason. I suspect it is the natural outcome of a generation of education that has debased fact and enthroned philosophy. We have studied political correctness and ignored history. Worse, we have ridiculed and attacked history, teaching an ignorant contempt for the Republic and its origins. We don't know who the Founding Fathers were, but we know who they oppressed. Washington and Jefferson are question marks in most people's minds, but almost every high schooler can tell you that they owned slaves. And that America slaughtered the Indians, and drove the buffalo almost to extinction, and stole the Panama Canal. Most people are taught to have pride in their heritage, in America we are taught to be ashamed of it. American students aren't taught to value the past, they are taught to change the future. The clear lesson of the American classroom is that the past is bad and must be escaped. Is it any wonder that according to the Department of Education 57 percent of new high school graduates don't have even the most rudimentary understanding of American history? - - Jefferson Davis, Jack Pershing, Henry Clay, William Tecumsah Sherman, George Marshall, Grover Cleveland or Luther percent have a "substandard" knowledge and 10 percent have a knowledge described as "at grade level." Just one percent of high school seniors has Thirty-tw- o "advanced" knowledge of American history. It would be a rare high school graduate who could tell you anything substantive about John Adams. Or Meriwether Lewis, Hyman Rickover. Clara Barton, Doliy Madison, Crispus Attucks, Burbank. Yet virtually every student would know Rosa Parks. Which is not to say anything negative about Mrs. Parks, but it is a blazing indictment of American education. While accusing history of being subjective and biased, today's classroom is as subjective and biased as possible. Students don't learn history, they leam an agenda. And the fruit of that is a rising generation of Americans who have as this study shows no understanding at all of their heritage and birthright. - The study will be seen by most as a negative reflection pn students. It shouldn't. This says nothing about students'. They leam what they are taught, and it is clear they are being taught nothing. The fault for this lies with those who determine educational policy and content. The big thinkers of American education have betrayed the American people. Those who set the agenda and train the teach ers and write the curriculla have subverted our schools as a tool against us. The liberals moved into education, and this is what you get. Its all cause and effect. an by Bob Lonsberry 2002 POOR ew |