Reader comments
RDA vote may solidify Granite

It is not the responsibility of edtcation taxes be used for private businesses. The RDA should be disbanded and done away with, rampant use of taxes to fund business is not the tax payers responsibility. By law and the constitutuion, state and federal, it is illegal to use tax funds to suppoet business. And people wonder why they have to pay such high taxes in Utah, to fund business? Eating at the trough of tax funds is fraudulent and abuse of taxes.

Bob G., you mis-understand the issue. The School District is getting the same property tax money they have always received. It doesn't cost them anything. Because of their positive vote Cottonwood Mall won't continue to decline and drag the tax revenues it generates down also (thereby eventually costing the School District money). The District realizes it is better to team up with the City of Holladay and with Developers who are willing to invest tens of millions of dollars and sign personally on tens of millions of dollars of construction loans and develop something new that will dramatically increase in value and thereby generate significantly more tax revenues for the City and for the school district.

The point is that Granite will be getting the same amount of tax money from this property for the next 20 years. The problem is that school costs in the next 20 years will increase with out the benefit of the increase in tax money. The School dist is betting this money on the success of a private venture. Government money, especially school money, should not be used to fund private enterprise.

there is now no reason why the east west split should be shelved. by all means proceed with the split. this vote is another example of the "i want it all" attitude of those representatives of the west side. this project is on the east side and that is where the benifits should stay. let the west side deal with its own rapid expansion and its own needs. i am sure that the east side is very capable of handling its own business. besides all we have heard from the west side residents is how unfairly they have been treated. let them have thier own RDA deals and tax issues and leave the east side alone to excell as they will continue to do with or with out them. great vote by GSD and please proceed withthe split and leave the ungrateful west side on its own as it has requested for the last few years.

I think it would be bad to split the Granite District. For one thing, I don't have an us versus them attitude. The whole district is "us". We should all care about the education of all the kids and care about the financial well being of the whole valley, and indeed the whole world.

Also, although the east side has only about one representative on the school board, my experience has been that the whole school board cares about the whole district. All of us are their constituents, not just the people in their local area.

This was manifest in this RDA vote, and it was manifest in the vote to rebuild Wasatch Junior High. That school is totally unneeded, but the area parents raised such a fuss that it's being rebuilt. The east side parents have absolutely no shortage of influence in the school district.

RE: Holladay Resident

i agree we are all in the same boat the problem is the west side thinks they should have a total say on where the boat goes. local parents should always have a say.

the problem is parents on 4100 south and 5200 west think they have more of a say than the parents on 3900 south and 2700 east because thier "area" is expanding faster and is larger. all i am saying is fine think that way, split the district, handle your own affairs and leave me to mine. the west has always cried foul play even when there is nothing to cry about. let them run thier schools into success or failure on thier own and leave the east side to handle its own business.

this RDA vote should be the first step to district split and not the end. the west side wants thier own say and thier own dollars let them. let them be responsible. this money should go entirely to the east side. that is where the project is and that is where the dollars should stay. a benifit to those who live there. to those who will actually stay there.

I guess a lot of you are too young to remember when taxes were raised to build schools on the east side 20 years ago. The west and east side paid those taxes and like they said, it should be all the children and not a boundary line in the sand that defines who gets what. Both sides help each other. Now is the time for the east side not to abandon ship and forget what the west side did for them 20 years ago.
The tide of migration changes every few decades if everyone was out for their own best interests where would any schools be buildt?