Vote Yes on MISA

The RTM vote on the second installment of the MISA Project is one the most crucial votes in recent memory. Predictably its opponents have fallen back on the tried and true tactic for blocking a project: seize on an unknown cost, inflate its importance, and pretend that it is in the best interest of the town to delay the project until all the expenses are certain. 

The MISA Project to improve the music and theater instructional space and to build a new auditorium at Greenwich High School has dedicated opponents. Having lost the vote for funding by a 2-1 vote last year on phase one they have seized on the pre-existing PCB contamination discovered under the GHS playing fields and the asbestos discovered in the existing school walls as a reason for stalling completion of MISA. The real reason for their opposition has always struck me as a deep aversion to public school spending no matter how necessary and for some a NIMBY approach to anything involving GHS. 

In any event the vote (Monday night) is crucial to the success of the project. The costs for remediating the asbestos is known and is not atypical in any renovation of an older structure. The method for protecting the site from PCB infiltration and remediation of the MISA area is known and included in the projected costs. The total remediation costs for the non-MISA GHS site are unrelated to the MISA Project and can await another day. Vote yes on MISA.