I was sorry to see Sue Lempert label people in San Mateo as either “The Old Guard,” or “Progressive” and that the former are “looking for revenge.” Labeling people is wasteful and destructive and only serves to widen the divide we have seen develop in San Mateo over the last few years. Anyone, in any community, whether longtime or newly arriving, has a right to be involved in decision-making and all voices are equally important. Real leadership lies in the skillful balancing of community needs and concerns. To suggest that longtime San Mateans cannot look to the future and their concerns over recent actions are simply “revenge” is uninformed and baseless.
The definition of a progressive person is “a person advocating or implementing social reform or new, liberal ideas.” There is certainly value in that approach and many longtime San Mateans also want to see positive change going forward. However, when “progressive” people in leadership roles simply assert their own ideas, dismissing and disrespecting other community member’s ideas and concerns and choose to engage in misinformation, then that leadership needs to be challenged and realigned to serve the entire community.
The San Mateo City Council exists to serve the community that elected them. Councilmembers that fail in that role have no right to serve and San Mateans need to pay attention and respond accordingly.
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Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.