Prioritizing Threats & Learning Lessons - Sea Level Rise vs. Hamas

Over ten years ago when I first started to get active in local Redwood City politics, I remember Councilwoman, Alicia Aguirre, telling the story of the people who voted against the extension of BART down the peninsula. In her telling she had met several of those representatives and they all agreed that they had made a mistake and that they should have voted in favor of the expansion. Sadly it doesn’t appear like anyone on the Redwood City council has learned their lesson.

Just like those no votes on expanding BART, the various city council members throughout the last ten years never wavered in their efforts to close down one of Redwood City’s jewels, Docktown. A community that could have become a real bulwark against the intensifying ravages of sea level rise and climate change is about to be no more. No, Redwood City council members, young and old, familiar with the history or not, unlikely or likely to live with those impacts, thought that paying over twenty six million dollars to remove a floating community when other cities like Amsterdam and London are expanding their floating communities was the way to go. Seems like not only Alicia Aguirre but all her fellow council members didn’t learn from their predecessors or lead the council in the right direction.

Sadly as one of the last six residents of Docktown, I finally took a small settlement offer and stopped fighting the city even though I know they are wrong. Reality is Hamas killed over twelve hundred people and took over 200 hostages on October 7th. I can’t fight two major issues at once and unfortunately the threat of Hamas is much more immediate than the threat of climate change and sea level rise. I was and am still in pain. As I told the City Attorney’s representative when I signed the documents, they can thank Hamas.

Which brings me to a lesson I learned as a young girl. Growing up one of the stories that resonated with me was from my grandmother. One of six children, when her parents passed away, she helped each one of her siblings get a fair share of the inheritance; but when it came time to discuss her part nobody helped her. The lesson was clear, be careful of who you help and support; they may not return the favor. Another lesson some of the council members need to learn.