Nancy Peoples Guthrie - House of Delegates
Online Blog
04/22/08
My First Blog
This transcends campaign trail talk but I got so excited I wanted to weigh in with an opinion. The state School Building Authority approved funding for a new West Side Elementary School in Kanawha County. As your Delegate seeking a second term, I couldn’t be happier.
What a needed shot in the arm for the community, and all those civic leaders who work so hard rebuilding the West Side. It’s always encouraging when you discover someone is actually listening and taking requests from the public to heart. What a day for celebration.
During my first term, I traveled up and down Kanawha County and know that many of our elementary and middle schools all need to be rebuilt, starting with the West side.
From Mary Ingles to Cedar Grove, and all the middle schools in Kanawha City, the story is the same. Most of these schools are 65 years old or even older. Many of them have been patched up with double-wides slapped on as additions, posing as improvements. They house our most precious cargo – children, and dedicated teachers who’d teach in caves if that is all the better we could do for them.
I’ve often said the only way we’ll ever legitimately attract investment to Kanawha County or West Virginia is to invest what it takes to make our communities attractive. Schools are a big part of that as are sidewalks, streetlights, storefronts and shopping. Paying wages above the national average also attracts people to communities too.
It does sound simple. But sometimes simple is better. For the folks on the West Side today is proof that a simple act of common sense by the SBA can make all the difference in the world. I can’t tell you how happy that makes me for the West Side – one of the Best Sides.