Perhaps most remarkable about LBHS Class of 1970 pandemic delayed 50th reunion Oct. 21-23 was how closely LBHS graduates from near and far follow LBHS and local community affairs.
For many gathered at our class reunion, national coverage of a first by an LBHS she/her gridiron media celebrity evoked memories of other LBHS firsts circa 1969-1970.
That was the school year we elected the first female LBHS Student Body President, heading real student government under a real student-ratified constitution, with a student bill of rights including due process in official school matters.
Instead of mostly football team girlfriends chosen by the football squad, in 1969 our Homecoming Court was not selected but elected by peers, and not just for sports but also academics, arts, music and character.
After overt discrimination and exclusion at LBHS had come to light in 1969, without asking permission our student government made LBHS the first public high school in America to adopt an equal rights policy for gay and lesbian students at school events.
Given that legacy of civic activism firsts, no surprise LBHS class of 1970 alumni also noted current 2022 firsts in our hometown.
For starters Council candidate Peter Blake offers voters a choice to enable petulant, profane and divisive conduct in public office, claiming success justifies misconduct. Can’t we have success without anti-democratic disruption of civil society?
Another first is Measure Q.
We grew up watching the political pendulum swinging from too much regulation of property rights to too little regulation of development, its political trajectory less and less often returning to political center.
Supporters of Measure Q want to empower populism to replace cronyism in approval of development projects where community quality of life interests outweigh City Hall-knows-best deal-making with deep-pocket special interests.
Amid arguments pro and con, the Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem confess in an Indy guest column that Measure Q was like sound measures adopted in nearby towns to mitigate undue pressure by special interest investor groups.
Yet, both embrace hotly disputed objections without which they “would likely not be writing this column opposing Measure Q.”
Holding City Hall accountable for clinging to power by smearing Measure Q and enabling Blake would be a first in 2022.
Howard Hills, Laguna Beach
