San Francisco

Lee Heidhues 10.11.2024

The constant kvetching and bitching about the impending voter approval Great Highway Park in San Francisco by my Senior peers infuriates me.

This self indulgent flagellation by Seniors who are too damn lazy to get out of their cars or are, in many instances, unable to because they have spent their lives behind the wheels gets not one shred of empathy from me.

The complaining by some Seniors is blatant ageism and an insult to the many seniors like myself who are still very active and mobile supporters of Proposition K which will create Great Highway Park.

I am 77 years old and have spent my entire adult life as a runner and now walker. Perhaps just as importantly I have used my bicycle for transportation for nearly 53 years. I have suffered hamstring tears, meniscus tears and any number of debilitating mishaps. None of these setbacks has ever allowed me to indulge in the sense of self-pity exhibited by my peers.

The seniors, many of whom are completely apolitical, act like the country will collapse if they can’t drive their cars on Great Highway Park. It’s the same pathetic litany which the whiny seniors used to try and destroy JFK Promenade in Golden Gate Park in 2022. These seniors failed then. Their sad sack effort to destroy a future oasis by the Pacific Ocean will drive to a halt on November 5th.

Just this morning a neighbor, now a fellow senior, who I have known for over 40 years walked by me in Sutro Heights Park. I was wearing my “Vote Yes on Ocean Beach Park” t-shirt. She shouted out at me “NO ON K!!!!” Having NEVER heard her utter a political comment I was taken aback. I just kept walking.

Perhaps the whiny Senior perspective is best summed up in a recent letter to the editor in The San Francisco Chronicle. It is attached below. In compelled me to write this blog post straight from the gut and the heart.

For the writer to claim in such bizarre fashion, “We sense the city would be happy to be rid of us all” is patently absurd. And is illustrative of rhetorical road kill.