In Mamaroneck, NY, a small suburb of New York City with about 9,000 people (at most), a choice awaits the American people. Whether to save the Kemper Memorial or chop down all of its trees to build a soccer field on it. Here's the situation:
In 1946, after their son, Richard, died in the hedgerows of Normandy, the Kemper family bought a piece of land next to the Mamaroneck High School and put up a memorial for their son and the other 98 Mamaroneckians who died for our country during World War II. About 5 years after he built the memorial, the Kempers decided to donate the memorial to the school (since the memorial is right next to it), on the condition that the memorial would stay the same over the years. For the past 1/2 century, the memorial has been a reminder of those who gave their lives for our freedom (not to summon old clichés or anything).
Here's the problem:
The school board wants more fields (most of this is their fault, considering they just spent millions of dollars building a new track and field only to discover it was not exactly regulation roundness, so they can't use it for competitions or anything). The solution, says the School Board, is to build a soccer field over part of the Kemper Memorial site, the part that has all of the trees. The High School population is mostly against the proposal, except for the sports teams.
The school board put the Kemper memorial soccer field proposition in the budget, which is voted on in mid-May. As a MHS student, I, along with a group of friends, have organized a campaign against the building of the soccer fields. Our #1 priority is defeating that budget proposal so the memorial can't be desecrated.
Here are some ways we're thinking about doing that:
- Handing out fliers to school-goers
- Registering senior citizens (who are overwhelmingly opposed to the proposal) to vote
As you can see, we really need ideas. We've only got a month and a half, no $$, and a group of 6 high school kids (and some teacher allies who prefer to distance themselves from the situation) to defeat this proposal.
But wait! We also have YOU! Yes you, the progressive base of America. You, the Kossacks who so dearly love this country and--
Okay I'm done.
But we need ideas! What can we, the underdogs, do to overcome the political establishment with no regard for our veterans that is the SCHOOL BOARD?
And now for an unrelated poll: