Watch for fireworks from the dunes

STEVE SMITH

The loudest fireworks you’ll hear this three-day weekend won’t be

from the safe-and-sane version that happy residents of Costa Mesa

will be exploding on Monday. The noise will be from residents all

over the Southland who are outraged at the disappearance of dunes

along a stretch of West Newport Beach.

In case you missed it: In April, someone or some people (I suspect

the latter) are suspected of secretly hiring people and equipment to

flatten the dunes in West Newport Beach to improve the view of the

ocean from the ground floor of their expensive beachfront homes.

Let’s make one thing clear right now: The people who are

responsible are not heroes; they are criminals, who committed a

serious violation of a state law. Their vandalism severely damaged or

completely destroyed a fragile ecosystem, put themselves and their

neighbors in harm’s way and has placed the city of Newport Beach at

risk of having to pay tens of thousands of dollars to restore the

dunes.

Now, the city has about six weeks to report to the California

Coastal Commission the results of an investigation into the crime.

Despite what you may have read or heard, removing the dunes

without permission is nothing to snicker at; nothing for any beach

resident to wear as badge of honor.

The people who committed this crime are common vandals. They are

of less character than the vandal who sprays black paint on a freeway

overpass. At least the tagger has the guts to do it himself.

This story has been dormant for a couple of months. But since our

tsunami warning a couple of weeks ago, the function and importance of

those dunes has become big news. As was reported here a week ago,

sand dunes contribute a measure of protection against a tsunami, a

fact confirmed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

And let’s not get distracted. Whether they or you believe that a

tsunami is likely or whether the Newport Beach dunes would have

provided any protection is not the issue. Removing the dunes was not

their decision to make.

It’s no consolation that residents messing with public beaches is

not unique to Newport Beach. Perhaps buoyed with confidence over the

absence of punishment in the “Dunesgate” caper -- or even a

worthwhile attempt to try to catch the criminals -- some folks in

Malibu decided two weeks ago to shift some sand of their own.

There, homeowners on Malibu’s Broad Beach bulldozed 1.1 miles of

beachfront sand off the public stretch, pushing it toward their

homes.

Peter Douglas, the executive director of the California Coastal

Commission called it “the most egregious, arrogant, inexplicable

behavior ever” by homeowners on the California beaches.

“They basically stole the public beach,” Douglas was quoted as

saying, “leaving the public to walk in the water. It’s

incomprehensible.”

But no, it’s not incomprehensible. Up in Malibu and down here in

Newport Beach, these acts were committed by arrogant, selfish,

self-centered crybabies who, unable or unwilling to go through proper

channels, decided to destroy public property.

At least in Malibu, they avoided the right to be called cowardly

by admitting what they had done.

“All we’re trying to do is repair the beach and make it better for

everyone,” Winifred Lumsden, a spokeswoman for the property-owners

association, was quoted after the bulldozing.

Right.

Nancy Gardner is the founder of the Newport Beach chapter of the

Surfrider Foundation and a longtime beach protectionist. Of our local

crime, Gardner told me: “You just can’t do that. I know that it’s

frustrating; that if they try to go through channels the chances of

[getting a favorable decision] are slim and none.

“But the Coastal Commission is there for all of us, and the beach

is there for all of us.”

There is some measure of satisfaction in that this story has

surfaced again since the crime was committed. It is pure justice that

after two months, these vandals probably thought they were in the

clear.

But thanks to a Los Angeles Times story Wednesday, the criminals

should be squirming because authorities have a pretty good idea of

the source of the heavy equipment used to flatten the dunes. From

there, it may only be a matter of time before the machine operator

drops a dime on the homeowners in exchange for immunity from

prosecution or restitution by the state or the city.

On second thought, though, I doubt that any one of the criminals

is losing any sleep. That would be the reaction of someone with a

conscience.

* STEVE SMITH is a Costa Mesa resident and a freelance writer.

Readers may leave a message for him on the Daily Pilot hotline at

(714) 966-4664 or send story ideas to dailypilot@latmes.com.