The Review’s publisher is confused about park financing, democracy

Review publisher Debra Godshall has a blog. Good for her. But she has posted to her blog exactly twice in the year she’s had it.  Once to chide a guy named John Lynch on technicalities of residency in Half Moon Bay. And this afternoon she used it to ridicule Mr. Lynch’s circulation of a petition supporting the Pilarcitos Creek park site.

She gives Mr. Lynch what-for, saying that the only way that Half Moon Bay is going to get a park will be through private charity and that he should be raising money, not signatures.

Whatever happened to the idea that real communities figure out how to pay for their own public improvements? Besides, supporters of the park have already said that private fundraising should contribute to the cost of some amenities on the site, along several other public and private sources. And the immediate cost of a park financed with bonds, developed incrementally, and properly funded will be a heck of a lot less than the scary $12 million she cites.

But the immediate priority is to make sure the city council doesn’t kill the possibility of any park forever. Ms. Godshall knows that, so her blog entry today looks more like misdirection than any attempt at a conversation about community priorities.

What disturbs me most is that of all the things that she could comment on from her position in leadership in our community, she chooses to ridicule a citizen on the sidewalk with a petition in his hand.

FULL DISCLOSURE: I’m proud to call John Lynch my friend.