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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]"So for the 40 people who oppose the Hearst pool, there are 3,000 who support....."

I don't know what you know about politics, but people who are anti anything are much, much more motivated than those who are content.

[/quote]

Agree. I know a little about politics, and I know that anyone who says they know with precision how voters feel about a specific local issue is lying. It's the great conundrum of local politics: are the 40 people who showed up a community meeting representative, or all of the people who feel that way?

Notice that in any neighborhood dispute both sides will always characterize the other as a "vocal minority" and themselves as the "[b]silent majority[/b]."[/quote]

How Nixonian.

Both politicians and the law recognize that person who may be particularly and adversely impacted by a project are sometimes due special consideration.  That's why, for example, the zoning code or alcohol licensing regulations require service on nearby residents and may give them special party status.  Otherwise the obviously limited number of persons directly affected would always be at the mercy of the "silent majority'  who might enjoy the benefits but none of the impacts of a project -- a major highway or in this case the loss of park space for a pool.  [/quote]

While this is true, when you are talking about a public park, just like a public school, the threshold is much lower, if not non-existent. You chose to live near a public park. If you don't like what the public plans are for the park, then move. But you do not have the right to be an obstruction to an amenity that the public wants for its park. It isn't yours. It is all of ours.[/quote]

To continue this point, there is a reason that zoning only appies to private property. The presumption is that the owner of private property will act only in his own self interest. To the extent that he imposes a negative externality on his neighbors, it is the role of government to step in and prevent it or mitigate it. The presumption is different for government entities, that they act in the public interest, and no external review is necessary to insure that interests are properly balanced. How those interests are balanced is in essence a political question.

The reality may be different but that is the theory. [/quote]

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