Congratulations and a huge thank you to all of those who worked so hard to defeat Measure H. Yesterday’s 80 percent/20 percent defeat of Measure H is the most lopsided local voting result in living memory according to longtime election watchers. Trouncing this dangerous and ill-conceived proposition was critically important.

But the energy and resources expended by a diverse coalition of the business community, youth sports advocates, neighborhood groups and other independent community leaders was also unprecedented. The bad news is that a tiny group of people, unhappy they didn’t get their own way, was able to divert so much attention and energy away from the very real issues the community faces.

The good news is that this tiny group of people didn’t decide how the city’s future should unfold, and that we were able to build a strong, effective and cohesive coalition that might be very useful in the future.