Taking a shot at the children

When residents are roused in union against a development or project

in their neighborhood, the natural question to ask is: Why? Perhaps

it causes untenable gridlock. Maybe it will destroy views. It might

alter, for the worse, the feel and look of the area. Or it could be

something so terrible, so-unneighborly, that it will lower property

values.

That question was a first to rise when considering opposition to a

Boys and Girls Club that has been proposed for a site next to

Westmont School on Heil Avenue at the Huntington Beach and

Westminster border. Why are neighbors so opposed?

The answer we reached is not particularly shocking, but it is

particularly saddening.

Among the reasons the neighbors say they are opposed to the

construction of the 40,000-square foot facility: the location is not

big enough to serve between 200 and 400 youths; it will bring too

many children to the area, and along with them traffic; it will lower

property values.

None of those strike us as being at the heart of the issue. We

think, rather, that Ocean View School District Board of Trustees

President Sharon Holland struck at the truth when she said, “The Boys

and Girls Club provides not only a place for children to come for

recreation, but it also provides before- and after-school care for

families who can’t afford it.”

“For families who can’t afford it.” There, unfortunately, seems to

be the great crime being committed by the Boys and Girls Club. The

other complaints all sound like red herrings intended to build

support while obfuscating the true concern -- that low-income

children will spend afternoons in the neighborhood.

To the worst form of NIMBYism we say: These are just kids we’re

talking about. And this is the Boys and Girls Club, which has long

success at providing youths an alternative to all the problems that

come with unsupervised days.

If they can provide it.