I met a new neighbor at the block party Saturday.

[rogerashton]

Ours is a pretty well-to-do neighborhood. The new neighbor is a top-level lawyer who just moved from the west coast, having been "head-hunted." She is also an African-American single mother. Her younger child has a health problem -- I don't know the details, but the young one is in a wheelchair. Now I understand why the school bus with the wheelchair lift is making our loop now.

She chose our neighborhood, she said, because of the health services it made available for her child.

Point being: shouldn't every child with such urgent need have access to those services, not only in well-to-do neighborhoods but in all neighborhoods? We're rich enough. We can do it, if we will.

[CTyankee]

1. Our public schools here are desirable because they do provide these services to kids in

public schools, because we are a very Democratic city. It's the private schools that have to raise money to provide them. Our tax base knows that and prefers that their taxes go for that as we all benefit...