SOUNDING OFF:

Ten years ago my husband and I moved to downtown Huntington Beach to what we thought was to be our dream home. I’d worked in this city for 26 years, so it was about time I lived here, too!

The thought of being able to walk to the beach, the shops and the restaurants was most appealing. However, as years went by, the dream has turned into a frequently occurring nightmare.

While we realize that living near the beach brings about a more vibrant lifestyle, we had no idea just how vibrant life was to become. We are very frequently awakened at all hours of the evening and early morning by drunken people’s screaming, partying and fighting in front of our house while trampling on and urinating in our shrubs.

In the last week I saw a young man and woman screaming at each other for a half an hour, after which she proceeded to walk to our front gate, pull up her skirt, pull down her underwear and urinate copiously all over my front gate and walkway. This was at 2:30 a.m.

Two days later, again between 2 and 2:30 a.m., four young men (one of whom was lying on the sidewalk) were partying in front of our house. We tried to ignore it, but we noticed that the man lying on the sidewalk hadn’t moved for quite some time. We became concerned that he may be suffering from a drug overdose or alcohol poisoning so we called the police, who, to their credit, showed up promptly. They called the paramedics, who took him away. His bodily fluids still stain the sidewalk in front of our house.

In the past, we were usually more impacted on the weekends, but now that the Tuesday street fair has been invented, we can count on much drama then, too. It appears to me that while the bars on Main Street are raking in the bucks, we, the local residents, on so many levels, are paying a heavy price.

While I realize that raising of revenue is of great importance to our city government, so should be equally important the quality of the residents’ lives, and so, should be given much thoughtful consideration when future development is in mind.

SUZANNE HART is a Huntington Beach resident.