Could it be that you and others, who held the reins of power for so long are mad because you've been sidelined over the past few years?
Or could it be that you resent the fact that our hard work is paying off, and that a City Council with no ties to special interests has put our town back on a healthy course? Your piece did its best to disparage both the City Council and our hard-working city staff.
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For example, the current zoning mess was created by a series of decisions made over the last 20 years. This City Council and Planning Commission are working hard to permanently correct a complex problem that affects many neighborhoods.
Just when we're moving forward on all cylinders, we suddenly have a few vocal naysayers suspiciously eager to circulate blatant misinformation and bad feeling.
Let's look at the facts:
n Streets and sidewalks: We've spent $1.2 million to bring our infrastructure back to acceptable standards by filling long-neglected potholes, resurfacing streets, repairing and installing sidewalks for pedestrian safety.
n Highway 92: This City Council took the leadership role in working with the county Transportation Authority and Caltrans to redesign and secure missing funding to eliminate the traffic bottleneck that has frustrated commuters and visitors for so many years. We're breaking ground next spring. That's reality.
Mr. Larimer's Foothill Boulevard fantasy has never found necessary support among government agencies - nor has the $13-plus million price tag ever been remotely affordable.
n Parks: We're finalizing the acquisition of 22 acres at the entrance to town - fulfilling our community's long-held dream of a real community park with playing fields, picnic tables and other amenities that are long overdue.
Anyone who knows about coastal real estate understands that $3.1 million for this huge parcel is a sweet deal. To address another unmet need in the community, we're also finalizing the acquisition of land for a new park in the Oak Avenue neighborhood.
n Recreation and trails: We've applied for and won numerous grants totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars for such things as the expansion of the Ted Adcock Community/Senior Center, the purchase of new playground equipment, a new Highway 1 bike trail, several extensions of the Coastal Trail, and the new Pilarcitos Creek trail.
n Library: We've invested in an ambitious, highly competitive state grant application, the outcome of which will be announced Nov. 30 in Sacramento. If successful, we will receive millions of state and county dollars for a new state-of-the-art facility in the heart of our town.
n Wavecrest: After extensive meetings with Wavecrest Partners, City Council unanimously negotiated a preliminary settlement agreement that among other things could provide the city with ownership of Smith Field and $1.2 million for upgrades of the ballfields, as well as $300,000 for a new city corporation yard.
Satisfying as the agreement is, the project's future still depends on the resolution of issues with a variety of state and federal agencies.
Though Mr. Larimer and others would like people to believe that the city has control over the approval process, that simply isn't true and hasn't been since 1999.
Contrary to Mr. Larimer's opinion, many people from the community have attended and expressed their views at council meetings when these and other issues have been discussed. As always, we welcome and encourage community participation and input.
These and other long-overdue accomplishments should be cause for celebration. For most citizens, they are. But perhaps for a small band of malcontents it's all about trying to incite discontent and polarize the community.
With more than a year to go until the next council election, sadly, this group is already practicing a negative and deceptive brand of electoral politics.
Doesn't our community deserve better than that?
Jim Grady is a Half Moon Bay resident and a member of the City Council.
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