Letters to the Editor: Laguna Beach learns the truth about tourism: It kills quality of life

To the editor: Locals in Laguna Beach are whining about something that people everywhere else already know — tourism destroys the quality of life. (“Trash, traffic, tempers, tourists: Laguna Beach’s summer of discontent,” Aug. 13)

Tourists act like jerks when they’re visiting, doing things they wouldn’t think of doing while at home. Ask a native Hawaiian how much they like tourism. People in Spain and Italy feel the same way.

The challenges of all these visitors (“overtourism”) far outweigh the benefits. The tourism shills want too much, including our quality of life.

I happened to be at a meeting back in the early 1980s where it was solemnly decided by developers and tourism shills that Ventura needed to become a tourist destination. Since then, the population has exploded along with rents, and now we have traffic hell everywhere and get to pay to park at our own beaches.

A sensible campaign that disparages tourism needs to be created for outside consumption. We should tell the truth about the Golden State: It’s unaffordable, wildfires are all over the place, the coyotes are taking over, aging hippies are everywhere, driving is a nightmare, hungry sharks lurk offshore, and the Big One that will bring beachfront property to Barstow could happen any time.

Oh, and all visitors need to bring a year’s supply of water.

Bill Locey, Oak View, Calif.

..

To the editor: People who have no difficulty carrying their lunch down to the beach or park seem to be incapable of carrying their trash past a public container no matter how full or overflowing. They appear driven to add to the pile even while witnessing scavengers and the wind spreading it far and wide.

As for tide pools trampled by tourists, I recall some 50 years ago on Topanga Beach when word spread among an inland community of the existence of a culturally desirable mollusk. They came daily for just a couple of months with crowbars and 5-gallon buckets to turn over every rock until what had been a thriving reef was gone.

That reef has still not recovered.

John Sherwood, Topanga