To the editor: Laguna Beach residents complain about something everyone else knows: tourism destroys quality of life. (“Trash, traffic, bad moods, tourists: Laguna Beach’s summer of discontent,” Aug. 13)
Tourists act like idiots when they visit and do things they wouldn't dream of doing back home. Ask a native Hawaiian how much they like tourism. People in Spain and Italy think the same.
The challenges posed by all these visitors ('overtourism') far outweigh the benefits. Tourists want too much, including our quality of life.
In the early 1980s, I attended a meeting where developers and tourism promoters solemnly decided that Ventura should become a tourist destination. Since then, the population has exploded along with rents, and now we have terrible traffic everywhere and have to pay to park on our own beaches.
A sensible campaign needs to be created that discredits tourism for outward consumption. We should tell the truth about the Golden State: it is unaffordable, wildfires are everywhere, coyotes are taking over, aging hippies are everywhere, driving is a nightmare, hungry sharks lurk offshore, and the big hurricane that will bring oceanfront property to Barstow could happen at any time.
Oh, and all visitors must bring a year's supply of water with them.
Bill Locey, Oak View, California.
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To the editor: People who have no problem taking their lunch to the beach or park seem to be unable to carry their trash beyond a public bin, no matter how full or overflowing it is. They seem to want to add more trash to the pile, even when they see scavengers and the wind scattering it everywhere.
As for tourist-trampled tide pools, I recall that about 50 years ago, on Topanga Beach, word spread through an inland community about the existence of a culturally desirable mollusk. They came daily for a couple of months with crowbars and 5-gallon buckets to remove every rock until what had been a thriving reef was gone.
That reef has not yet recovered.
John Sherwood, Topanga
