NOTE: This opinion piece by Barry Parr appeared in Wednesday’s Review. You can read the full story on the Review’s site.
They say real life is a lot like high school.
The current scuffle over the playing fields at Half Moon Bay High certainly has all the elements of high school: jocks vs. nerds, cliques, bullying, and lots of folks who haven’t done their homework.
To bring you up to date, the high school received a generous donation to refurbish its playing fields from an anonymous millionaire whose identity everyone knows. Of course, this generosity brought the community together in a single-minded sense of gratitude and good fellowship. Sort of like a vaguely worded bequest to a beloved beagle would be received by the heirs of the decedent.
The school district - the paint peeling on the groundbreaking sign at its decrepit middle school with no actual ground having been broken - set about gilding the high school’s fields. Literally next door to this undertaking, the neighbors petitioned the district to consider the quiet enjoyment of their homes in its renovations and to keep to the project it outlined in its Coastal Development Permit. When the district ignored them, they took their petition to the city, which had issued the permit. They’re still waiting for the city to call them back.
Politics in the City of HMB have always been high schoolish, with sporadic movements to detrivialize city affairs eventually subdued by the old ruling clique.
Carl May