COMMUNITY COMMENTARY

There is something about the support for Prop. A that has not made

sense for more than a year. It has taken some doing, but I have finally

gotten to the bottom of it. Proposition A is a $160 million school bond

measure that the Huntington Beach Union High School District is trying to

sneak past the voters in a November stealth election. The funds would go

toward the repair of schools that have deteriorated during two decades of

mismanagement and negligence.

From the outset the bond measure has enjoyed support of those who have

fought bonds and higher taxes for years. Successful businessmen who

would never tolerate the district’s practices in their own enterprises,

have been all too eager to reward the district for its ineptitude with a

substantial bonus, mostly at the expense of others.

Here’s what it’s all about: The bond will essentially be welfare for

the rich. Those who have bought expensive homes in the new Seacliff area

have come to realize that the school serving their area, Huntington Beach

High School, is the district’s flagship for waste and mismanagement.

Their children will leave their luxurious homes in the morning to attend

a dilapidated school. They are most unhappy about this.

They want middle-class white- and blue-collar workers to pay

additional property taxes so their children can attend a modernized

school. Normally one buys a home near a desirable school. Not in this

case. The wealthy chose to buy near the least desirable school, physical

condition-wise, in the district.

They now want those who struggle to come up with AYSO soccer

registration fees to bear higher taxes to pay for their decision. To make

this bit of inverted welfare palatable, they have thrown in chump change

for the other schools in the district. This way everybody can be led to

believe that the bond is for the benefit of all. Make no mistake. This

bond is for the benefit of the wealthy homeowners in the Seacliff area.

The rest of us should not have to be burdened with higher taxes

because they chose a location next to the district’s trophy to fiscal

foolishness. Before the district is entrusted with any new money, the

board and administration should be held accountable, its management

policies corrected and its maintenance practices improved. None of these

prerequisites are being met.

BRUCE CRAWFORD

Fountain Valley