Commentary: It’s time to move on — and inland

What? You mean the wealthy folks who live at the beach haven’t been able to convince the California Coastal Commission that the fire rings are an air-quality issue yet? (Re. “Corona del Mar Today: Fire ring application is ‘incomplete,’” Sept. 9)

Why should they need air-quality studies? Shouldn’t the Coastal Commission take their word for it?

It is not about running out the youngsters and the inland minorities who are enjoying themselves — not those representatives of the 1% who never crossed their minds! Shame on people for even thinking that that might be why!

The problem seems to be that they just come down the freeway in droves to the beaches. What is wrong with those people? They should just turn on the air conditioning and be grateful.

I lived at the beach for more than 30 years in various beach cities, including on Balboa Island. I started out loving it.

I would tell people, “I would live at the beach in a closet before I would move inland.”

And I definitely could not understand the oldsters who were packing up moving to the desert. What was wrong with them? They had the perfect place to live where they could walk everywhere — to the market, to the bank (we had one then), to the drug store, etc. And it wasn’t about money; those people could afford to go or stay.

Now that I am in my mid-60s, with my hearing mostly intact, I can understand why. The noise, the parking, the noise, the Junior Lifeguards traffic, the noise, the dog poop, the noise, the people riding bicycles on the boardwalk, the noise, the lack of respect for older people, the noise.

I am sure you get the idea. After a couple of well-intentioned moves to “quieter” streets, which actually turned out to be noisier, I gave up and moved inland.

I had my years at the beach. I loved, loved, loved them, and I wouldn’t give up those memories for anything. However, I found out along the way that it isn’t my job to change the world, just to live in the one that exists for all of us.

Now it is their turn to enjoy living and partying at the beach. And my turn to move on to some corner of the world where it is a little more peaceful and quiet. It is about sharing — something that my generation seems to have a bit of trouble with.

So, as they say in my 12-step program, let it go and see what is in store for you around the corner. It might be a lot better than you could possibly imagine.

CAROLYN L. CARR, longtime Newport Beach resident, moved inland to Costa Mesa.