APS bond issue election facts hard to come by

APS administrators and board members will put a bond issue before voters sometime next year. It could be as soon as next February as part of the school board member elections.

The lack of certainty over the date, and frankly any other details at all, illuminates the lack of open and honest two-way communication between the leadership of the APS and the community members they serve. This despite the impassioned and repeated claims by board members Kathy Korte and Paula Maes, that questions can find answers in twin towers.

I am in communication, albeit one-sided with APS' Capital Master Plan Director Kizito Wijenje. I have asked of him, a number of legitimate questions in search of essential details regarding the process and timeline;

• Are there steps the issue must go through, like administrative approval, board approval, filing dates, etc?
• Has a timeline been created for stepping through the process?
• Has a date been set for the election, does it coincide with school board member elections?

Wijenje is yet to answer even one of those questions.

Finally, I asked;

Can you at least tell me the date of the election and the dollar amount?

To which, he sends no reply.

APS has a modus operandi; a "method of procedure" for slipping bond issue and mill levy elections by voters. They, APS and the APS Foundation, promote them heavily among likely supporters, like the folks who work at 6400 Uptown Blvd and in schools, and downplay them everywhere else. They are given leverage by depressing voter turnout in what the Alb Tribune once called "stealth" elections.

There is only one reason to hide the truth.

If the leadership of the APS was proud of their spending of tax dollars, proud of how efficiently they spend them, proud of how appropriately they spend them, they would be touting the truth, not hiding it.

They are hiding their spending in the twin towers, their lack of efficiency and their lack of propriety.

They are hiding hardwood paneled office spaces.
They are hiding board member chairs for which, rumor has, they paid more than $800 dollars apiece.

They're hiding the truth.




photo Mark Bralley