Lucia Casalinuovo claims off-roaders are no windfall because they purchase food at local supermarkets which “don’t need the off-roaders to make money” and camp for a $10 fee when they should be spending $500 to $600 for a three night stay at a local hotel (“Fewer beach campers would bring in more money,” June 10).
Many families cannot afford local hotel rates. And most local hotels are unaffected by the nearby camping activity, which, according to Ms. Casalinuovo, is enjoyed by as many as 7,000 Californians on some nights.
The park-generated “windfall” (estimated $70 million to $200 million per year) is healthy for the economy and employment. Can our community afford to be as cavalier about money, jobs, and managed public recreation as Ms. Casalinuovo?
“People could still camp on the beach, of course, if they carried all their stuff on their back, just as one is supposed to do when one goes camping.” Including the handicapped, Ms. Casalinuovo? Is car camping now inappropriate, or just at “your” beach?
Suggesting a State Park enact policy to exclude not only off-roaders but the handicapped, budget vacationer, and car campers while discounting the punishing loss of profit for small and large local businesses that would result is self-serving for local resident Casalinuovo. She won’t have to endure a short walk or bike ride to other nearby beach/dune areas to enjoy nature “her way,” and she might see an associate’s income properties experience a “windfall.”
No humanity here, just efforts to commandeer Oceano dunes, smacking of old world moral turpitude.
This article appears in Jun 17-24, 2010.