HomeMy WebLinkAboutBenefits from Mall Tax-1995 Leers Schools would
And so,Winter Springs gets a benefit from
million dollars to disappear.We're Oviedo mall is mall's tax bill
all for the mall;its makes good eco-
nomic sense and certainly will be a part of progress .As a teacher in Seminole County,
relief to weary residents who now I am writing to express my solid sup-
The path to progress is seldom port for the proposed mall in Oviedo.
have to fight their way over to smooth. It is littered with the rem- Over the past 10 years I have watched
Altamonte Mall or Fashion Square rants of old habits,fragments of fears with growing concern the steady
with a meat ax just to buy a shin. and insecurities and absolutely growth in our student population
But the Wader Springs govern- fraught with anxieties generallybased coupled with lagging lost respect.Once it stood on the axiom "We've never done it , o of which sap
P�� port that growth,both of which have
on principle, which we supported, that way before!" translated into crowded schools and
if only quietly. Principle is gone I can imagine the frustration and classrooms.
now, having given way to expedi- anxieties shared many years ago by I myself have been one of the
encY some of the owners of land now oc-, public voices that have fought keep
copied by the residents of Tuscawilla. special areas such as art and music in
I can almost hear them saying, the curriculum when budget con-
"They're going to build what?""That straints have put them in jeopardy.
large of a development will contami- And I believe it was just a few weeks
nate the good land we've spent a life- ago that I read in the paper that the
time cultivating!" "Damned carpet- county is S1.5 million behind in
baggers! Why don't they go back needed revenues for this current
where they've come from and take school year,and looking for things to
their ideas of'progress'with'em!" cut.
Fortunately for ow good neigh- The Oviedo Crossing project of-
hors,progress and common sense did fers over S2 million in ad valorem tax
prevail and a beautiful residential area revenues which will go to the school
was designed and built with care and system,'as well as millions of other
attention to the welfare of the corn- tax dollars which would go for public
munity.I would ask the citizens of this safety and other needed services to the
community to consider where they county.Too,it offers over 2,000 jobs
would be today had the path of which will be available in the com-
progress been built in another dnec- inanity so that our students — our
lion. children—will have the opportunity
Let the MarketPlace at Oviedo to work part time while in school and
Crossings be a part of this progres- when they finish school to settle and
sive spirit for ow community! It's a live in the community in which they
piece of the master plan whose'time ,uP
has come" and those who stand Finally, the mall offers a great
against it for no better reason than... opportunity to-diversify the county's
"They're going to build what?". . . tax base without adding children to
should search their reasoning and not its classrooms. It will bring in com-
be led astray by nay-sayers who have mercial tax dollars which do not de-
nothing better to do with their spare . mind school space as residential tax
time than trying to impede progress dollars often do.Therefore,I think we
for their own egos and would be very foolish if we don't do
engrandizement help project
KEY HOWARD everything ppnIeetreme tremendous this
happen.Seri. I see tremeydaud es a in it
for Seminole County and especially
Seminole County schools.
_ KAREN D. MORGAN
9-f c 3 -2L3 President
Seminole County Art Education
Association
Oviedo