West Seattle politics: State Referendum 52 campaign kickoff here

The headline on the “media advisory” e-mail we received was initially a little jarring: “Healthy Schools for Washington to Launch Referendum 52 Campaign at aging, run down building housing Chief Sealth High School in West Seattle” – after all, Chief Sealth International High School‘s permanent campus is currently undergoing millions of dollars in renovations. Turns out, they’re talking about the Boren building that Sealth has called home for the past 2 school years; so, if you see a bit of a media hubbub outside Boren/Sealth at 3 pm tomorrow, this is what it’s about: The campaign kickoff for R-52, described as “a November ballot measure that will create $505 million in bonding capacity to repair aging, dilapidated school buildings across Washington State”; the advisory says Boren is among them. We’ll be at the media event tomorrow; the advisory points to a website where it says more info is available, but as of right this moment, that site’s not up yet (www.healthyschoolsforwa.org). The state website doesn’t have info at the moment either, but via Sightline, we find that this is your chance to vote yay or nay on a bill passed by the Legislature last year. Sightline’s analysis frames it more as energy retrofitting for school buidings, rather than repairs.

1 Reply to "West Seattle politics: State Referendum 52 campaign kickoff here"

  • Eric Hess May 26, 2010 (2:30 pm)

    Thanks for posting on this! The referendum will provide money to perform energy retrofits for schools, and the benefits of energy upgrades are many: cleaner air, healthier kids, better performance, jobs, and energy savings that go back to education. We just posted another post on the referendum and the health benefits for our kids: Clearing the Air.

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