Brown Deer has been the victim of some indefensibly poor planning over the past decade and once again the knee jerk reactionaries will probably get their way.

This month, apparently after years of deferred maintenance, it was decided that it was time to close Algonquin school. A failing alarm system, a leaky roof and bubblers (water fountains to non-Wisconsinites) with rusty water were just some of the problems.

So what will happen to the space Algonquin school currently is located?

I’ve already heard condos or senior housing — both of which we have more than enough of in Brown Deer.

The fools who say we need to get as much money as we can for the space Algonquin school sits on are doing a dis-service to our community. They fail to understand long term planning and are failing to understand that a healthy community is one which has diversity among its zoning and its population.

Elected officials must ask themselves the question — will, or should, Brown Deer be a family friendly community? Is it now? Census figures from the year 2000 show that 31.2% of households are made up of individuals. This is not to allude that all people who do not live with family members will automatically oppose family-friendly policies, but it does draw a logical conclusion that, coupled with human nature, people will support policies which they perceive benefit them.

Now let’s give that 31.2% number a little thought.

I’d like to think that people who don’t have children or a spouse in the home are just as concerned about education as the next person but are they? I can remember back when I served as County Supervisor, I went to a Brown Deer seniors meeting and was cornered by an angry senior who lectured me that seniors shouldn’t have to pay for schools because they don’t have kids in the schools. And why, he added, do seniors have to pay taxes when all those college students are driving around in their sports cars — they’re the ones with the money he contended.

That little incident was a lesson in human selfishness. The man failed to understand that education for young people was just as important to our society as his ability to get medicare and social security. But he was more concerned with “me, me, me” than he was about all of us. He also failed to understand that many college students, then and now, are barely surviving on inexpensive staples like ramen noodles, potatoes and the college favorite — macaroni and cheese. To recall that mans angry words you would have thought that in my college days I was riding around in a decked out Porsche or Lexus instead of the 10 year old ten speed bike I used to get to and from my college job.

So let’s stop looking at that property as simply a way to get a quick fix of cash. We’re better than that. I’ll hold out hope that the powers that be are able to see that it would be better to continue the residential feel of that neighborhood by either allowing only single family homes on that footprint, or better yet, annexing the land onto Algonquin Park.