First, Has anyone heard that the State is going broke? Perhaps a few extra hundreds of dollars in cost savings during Standard Time months would be fiscally wise.

Second, Students have 2+ hours a day after school to practice “on the field” and should find ways to cross- train if any more training is necessary. How about including in the extra practice running from Skyline to the bus stop down the hill near to Lincoln Square, which appears to be a hop-skip-and a jump away?

Third, I thought High School students started school early so they could leave early to get to some kind of afterschool job and/or community service project?

There are many ways to cross-train adopt a more flexible attitude rather than demanding it all their way — this is not Burger King!!!

A few months of alternative working out and practicing is no big deal, consider Daylight Standard time has been extended as well.

I don’t know how many Oaklanders like the idea of High School age students hanging around their home in any neighborhood. I, for one don’t want any of them hanging around my house, and neither would a single working mother in a gang-banger neighborhood.

This issue pops up intermittently to “poke” residents because of hate and anger over perceived socio-economic disparity and negativity embedded in the Oakland City culture.

While it is clear that people in other neighborhoods care about issues, they have not restricted evening access by forcing legal agreements that restrict lighting and thereby activities. Is it a coincidence that the one neighborhood that has done so is affluent and the majority of the students do not live in the neighborhood? That is very unlikely.

While I think the Williams Act covers many things, unfortunately I don’t think it covers extra-curricular activities. Sadly, it may be necessary for either the district (ha) or parents to hire an attorney to file an injunction against the agreement.

I suggest the parents of athletes pool some cash and hire a sympathetic lawyer to form a lobby group and sue for access based on the Williams Act and other equal opportunity laws. Booster clubs could lead the effort, along with coaches.

The only thing bureaucracies respond to these days is lawyers.

Last summer a large group of high school students from Piedmont decided to have a bonfire party late at night. The kids decided to hold it in the middle of Sequoia Arena, an equestrian facility in Oakland’s Joaquin Miller Park, a heavily wooded area only 1.6 miles away from the neighborhood dealing with this lighting issue.

These “smart” kids (from a school district with an API of 919) held their midnight bonfire in the hills at the peak of our most extreme high fire season. To get firewood, they tore apart the fence that surrounds the horse arena. Not only was a portion of the fence destroyed, but burned wood and nails were left in the sand (dangerous for horses). The only way park management learned who the kids were is because in their drunken state they had thrown their chairs in the fire, too, complete with ID tags that happened not to burn. I imagine that the City of Oakland was able to receive some recovery for their losses, probably from the well-off parents via their attorneys.

This entire incident happened very quietly and didn’t get any press. Just sit back and try to imagine what the response would have been if the kids were from Oakland’s flatlands instead. Privilege buys a lot.

The potential harm to the hills community from that single activity outweighs anything Skyline athletes could do by being allowed to jump over well-lit hurdles in November, and then waiting at the corner for their rides home.

When people wear blinders, they’re vulnerable to missing a number of dangerous things.

I am a flatland resident–not a Hillcrest Estates neighbor. I have watched many times people targeting “Hill” people with what is really anger and resentment over access to working and non-working wealth. I suspect that the “breaches” are part of that misplaced anger and resentment, but not justification to bully and harass anyone.

Just because someone lives in the Hillcrest Estates area doesn’t necessarily mean they are ALL monied and have connections–yet they do ALL have needs, and like any community, they have a right to express those needs and then have agreements respected and enforced.

To me this just sounds like an extension of the workplace bullying dynamics going on about how adults in this City do not have mutual respect for eachother and their needs–that someone can be disrespected because their needs are not thought to be worthy of being respected because they are rich and/or homeowners in a wealthy area–if that is the truth at all about those people in Hillcrest Estates.

Sounds to me like all this barking is to escalate hostility and try to inflame others–of some kind of Drama going on all the time–ultimately to disturb the peace and serenity of the neighborhood every so often.

If you really take a look at any neighborhood of Oakland, most people are just as passionate about their needs and the expectation of enforcement.

You all need to hire a professional mediator to stop this kind of conduct on both sides of the issue.

As far as Obama’s concerned: Why did he appoint Arne Duncan as US Secretary of Education? Why don’t you read what everyone is saying about that and see just what kind of team work is coming next. You won’t have one ounce of input into whether or not those school lights go on or off or whatever else you want to bring up.