An idyllic retirement community in California has been torn apart by politics, with wild reports of pickleball fights and brawls at the local farmers market.
Rossmoor’s gated paradise in Walnut Creek, near the San Francisco Bay Area, is home to 10,000 seniors and features 27 holes of golf and eight tennis courts.
But residents now find themselves living in a hotbed of political tension as the divided group wrestles with the same partisan divide that plagues the nation.
The final straw came when Trump was nearly assassinated on July 13, leading to a violent fight between two retired women on the pickleball court that same day, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The Rossmoor gated retirement community in Walnut Creek is home to 10,000 seniors and features 27 holes of golf and eight tennis courts.
Residents have found themselves living in a hotbed of political tension as the divided group struggles with the same partisan divide that plagues the nation.
The two women reportedly came to blows over their political differences when a pro-Trump resident blamed Democratic rhetoric for the assassination attempt and a liberal resident made an inappropriate comment about the shooting.
Witnesses reported a scene of chaos, with a livid older woman confronting the players and daring anyone to celebrate the attempt on Trump’s life.
The confrontation then escalated into a fight between the woman and an elderly pickleball player, with reports of kicking, hitting and hair pulling.
The retirees began to push each other before throwing punches, leaving clumps of hair on the floor, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
Walnut Creek police were called to the scene and one person was cited and released after a “pushing fight” at the Tice Creek gym, but the county district attorney declined prosecution citing insufficient evidence.
This incident is just one example of the political uproar that has erupted in Rossmoor.
Demonstrations, dueling columns in the weekly Rossmoor News and heated disputes at the farmers’ market over cardboard cutouts of presidential candidates have become increasingly common.
Rossmoor is a 55 and older community where the median home price is $595,000.
Most of its residents were once at the top of their professional fields and are accustomed to speaking their minds, the Chronicle reported.
Rossmoor’s transformation from a conservative retirement haven to a politically diverse community reflects California’s leftward shift in recent decades.
The influx of older Democrats, often bringing with them the activist culture of the San Francisco Bay Area, has led to the formation of new clubs focused on social justice issues.
But the demographic shift has left many longtime Republican residents feeling outnumbered and excluded.
“We went out to get out the vote in 2020 talking to registered Republicans, and one of the first things they said is, ‘Oh, it’s good to see a Republican, I’m afraid to reveal who I am,'” said Bill McConnell, a member of the Republican Club. .
The community newspaper, Rossmoor News, has become a focal point of current tensions.
Columns on hot-button issues like guns and immigration have sparked angry responses and even hate mail.
In an attempt to maintain civility, the newspaper’s editor, Ann Peterson, has limited the number of political columns, crediting difficulties in fact-checking different points of view.
This decision, however, has been met with complaints of censorship from Republican columnists.
As tensions rose, protests on various issues, from xenophobia to the war between Israel and Hamas, became more frequent.
Richard Rubin, a 71-year-old retired lawyer who helps run the local Republican Club, summed up the situation.
‘I think the feelings are intense and they are intense throughout the country. “This is a kind of reflection on that,” he told the outlet.
Two women reportedly got into a fight on a pickleball court over their political differences.
Demonstrations, dueling columns in the weekly Rossmoor News and heated disputes at the farmers’ market over cardboard cutouts of presidential candidates have become the norm.
Rossmoor’s transformation from a conservative retirement haven to a politically diverse community reflects California’s leftward shift in recent decades (Pictured: The Rossmoor community of Walnut Creek, California)
The crackdown on protests to diffuse tension has sparked outrage among the senior community, who now claim their freedom of expression is being violated.
In response to the growing unrest, Rossmoor has intervened with a series of new measures and even launched a ‘Civility Task Force’.
Since the pickleball fight, community administrators, the Golden Rain Foundation board of directors, They have banned protests on a street corner near Rossmoor, as well as political commentary in the community newspaper.
Under the new rules, Rossmoor groups can only hold one rally every two weeks, although they can request to hold more in an emergency.
Demonstrations must also be held on a strip of grass near community clubhouses and must have a sign that says “Please do not honk.”
However, these measures seem to have provoked more reactions.
Michael Goldberg, a 74-year-old retired professor of philosophy and religion and leader of the protest, told the Wall Street Journal: “You’re treating us like we’re the adults and you’re the kids.”
Rossmoor management said the decision to relocate the demonstrations away from the community entrance was prompted by safety concerns after five incidents in which drivers claimed they had accidents because they were distracted by signs or because someone in the car front had braked too quickly, the outlet reported.
The board’s communications director, Ann Peterson, told the Chronicle that the pickleball fight was just one of the incidents that led to the policy changes.
Peterson said political tension in the community had been rising for months and that several residents had been confronted at the Rosmoor farmers’ marker over political columns or films shown at meetings.
Some clubs had also “received anonymous letters that were threatening in nature, again due to their political beliefs and some of the speakers they were bringing to Rossmoor,” Peterson added.
But The changes have sparked outrage in the senior community, who now claim their freedom of expression is being violated.
Retirees staged a protest in August demanding the new policies be repealed.
‘They are infantilizing us, with the idea that we cannot express ourselves. They know better,” resident Michael Goldberg said in an interview with CBS News.
Katha Hartley, who heads the community’s 1,240-member Democratic club, added: “We’re treated like kids in a high school cafeteria where two people had a fight over food, and now everyone’s suspended.”
The new rules dictate that Rossmoor groups can only hold one rally every two weeks, although they can request to hold more in an emergency.
Resident Michael Goldberg said in an interview with CBS News, “They’re infantilizing us, with the idea that we can’t express ourselves.” they know better
Rossmoor is a 55 and older community and has a median home price of $595,000
Many residents on both sides of the political divide now express weariness with the division.
Some worry that Rossmoor will gain a reputation for hostility when most interactions between residents remain cordial.
Ron Kalb, an 80-year-old Democrat, told the Wall Street Journal: “Some of us worry that Rossmoor will get a reputation as a group of crazy, cranky people, when we generally get along well.”