The Lost Decade
Thank goodness for the current school board. The board’s latest decisions – to revisit, once again, the siting of the new middle school, and to lean toward building it at the current Cunha Intermediate School site – these were not easy things to do.
The board has made a move toward pulling out of the Wavecrest decision, and that was a tough choice, too. And the recent tilting back toward the Cunha site, after all these years, was a courageous and bold step.
It’s not this current board’s fault, of course, but this was also a step that could have been made almost a decade ago.
And that point burns. This town has wrangled over where the middle school should go since 1996, when voters first approved the $35 million school improvement bond. There has been fighting over the land swap to swing the deal, there has been outrage over tying our middle school to the fate of a large residential housing development, Wavecrest Village, and there has been exasperation over the repressive and often-nasty posturings of past school boards.
So it’s great that the current school board looks like it wants to build a new middle school at the current Cunha site. But it’s vexing that we had to go through nine wasted years to get here.
And that brings us to the November election, and the race for three seats on the City Council. Of course, the City Council has nothing to do with the school board’s decisions; it has nothing to do with where the middle school will go. But this political wrangling over building the new middle school – and the wasted years those political decisions caused – is part of the political fabric of our town and, for that reason, it has everything to do with the Half Moon Bay City Council race.
One faction wants to spin those lost nine years as the result of “delay” by pro-environmental Coastsiders – and that divisive faction also hopes to paint current Council members with that same broad brush.
What current City Council members have proven, though, is that the way to get things done in this town is to build bridges, work with everyone, work with the community. That’s how the Council got Highway 92 on track, it’s how the Council set up so many plans for trails and parks in our town, it’s how the Council built a strong working relationship with the Wavecrest folks. This is a Council that works with the Coastal Commission, works with developers, works with community members to get things done.
That’s the lesson of these recent school board decisions – and the school board’s decision still to come about building a new middle school back at Cunha.
Everyone in town wants a new middle school. That’s clear from the large percentage of Half Moon Bay voters who agreed to pony up the cash for school improvements. The way to build a new school, though, is through consensus and careful planning – not through the bullying, we-know-what’sbest- for-you attitude of past school boards.
The current school board must be commended for its commitment to move forward, to put good sense above good politics, to do its best to build the middle school without more delay.
The current City Council should also be commended, for managing to get things done in this politically charged town. Its accomplishments are an example of how to make a difference in Half Moon Bay, by working with neighbors and government agencies to shape policy that works, to avoid the divisiveness and delays of the past.