Creating a new space for boys and girls to play and engage in
safe, fun, activities free of fear from the outside world is always
a welcome idea.
Creating a new space for boys and girls to play and engage in safe, fun, activities free of fear from the outside world is always a welcome idea.
But even such a seemingly altruistic, selfless suggestion is capable of driving another wedge of division into Hollister.
Last week County Supervisor Jaime De La Cruz announced he is seeking $25,000 to $30,000 to fund a feasibility study to find out if the community can support a new Boys and Girls Club. The city has a YMCA. The study would determine if the community can support both.
De La Cruz said a Boys and Girls Club will cater to a different clientele than the YMCA. He said it will help out poorer children from minority families who cannot afford programs offered at the YMCA.
We believe anything that helps any child from any neighborhood get off the street and into wholesome activities is an asset to any community. And perhaps Hollister can support both a YMCA and a Boys and Girls Club. Both are terrific organizations.
But we also wonder about the timing of De La Cruz’s announcement. The Hollister School District Board of Trustees recently voted to sell 7.5 acres of land to the YMCA for construction of a new $13 million facility. De La Cruz insists “there’s nothing wrong with the YMCA.” But he also says a “big” YMCA outside the downtown area will be beyond the reach of low-income kids.
So in Hollister, a city with a crushing deficit that threatens public services of all kinds and has led to a campaign for a sales-tax increase, the YMCA is suddenly viewed in terms of elitism and race, services available only to citizens of means. Never mind that the local YMCA is housed in a building that can best be described as “very old.”
Viewing the national YMCA in terms of elitism is a new one on us. For decades, the Y has traditionally hosted one of the most diverse – if not the most diverse – clienteles in hundreds of American cities. De La Cruz said that if granted feasibility-study money he will take a group to Salinas to tour its Boys and Girls Club. We suggest he also tour the Watsonville YMCA. There, he will find more than diversity; he will find the facility bursting at the seams on a given afternoon.
We are not condemning De La Cruz’s suggestion. Watsonville also has a youth center where kids can go after school for free. If Hollister can support a Boys and Girls Club, it is good news. But driving a wedge into the YMCA expansion campaign should be avoided. Hollister does not need to further a reputation as a city where nothing can be done.
We urge De La Cruz to follow through on any campaign he undertakes for a Boys and Girls Club. To the end. He should prove to the city, to residents, and to the children who would enjoy such a facility that he is thinking beyond his own publicity.
