"It's not about surf, it's about class war!"
Yesterday, in an amusing side note to the
ongoing battle over Lunada Bay, the Palos Verdes Peninsula
News published an op-ed by local realtor Frank
Ponce.
It’s an amusing attempt to justify, deflect blame, continues
their “outsiders are bad guys” rhetoric. Tosses out a bunch of lame
red herrings, one of them pointing to some pretty ingrained racism
on the part of Mr Ponce.
How about that name, Ponce? Means an effeminate man, or one who
lives off a prostitute’s earnings. Too funny.
The ponce, Ponce, is trying to play the frivolous lawsuit card.
Now that the city, police, and some of the xenophobic losers who
live on the hill, are being sued for a decades long policy of
harassing, or allowing the harassment of, outsiders, he claims it
means everyone is gonna get sued.
The idea that they are being classified as a “gang” is
absolutely ridiculous. Just because a group of surfers congregate
to surf when the waves have good shape does NOT classify them as a
“gang.” I congregate with a running club and hit the PV trails with
aggression. Are we a gang? Cyclists congregate at Malaga Cove by
the hundreds on the weekends and take over the streets and blow the
stops signs and other traffic violations. Are they a gang? How
about a group of teenagers that gather to play basketball in
Compton every day? Maybe they won’t let you play on “their” court.
Are they a gang? What about a group that gathers at the bowling
alley, guzzles beer, and yells profanities while bowling? Perhaps
the old guys from the Haggarty’s Surf Club should be called a gang.
Let’s get real.
Way to bring in the terrifying specter of black
youth, Ponce, but that’s not gonna work. I know y’all are terrified
of them, but the rest of us know it’s bullshit. As for the
remainder of your red herring tirade, if a group of cyclists,
bowlers, or runners banded together and decided to harass,
intimidate, or commit vandalism, to protect the supposed sanctity
of their respective road, lane, or trail, yeah, they’d be gangs.
Stupid white people gangs that are banking on their privilege
helping to keep them out of trouble.
I have used the
Bay Boys’ surf shack to barbeque with my
kids and I have slept there overnight to
listen to the waves. It is NOT a fort. The Bay Boys have loaned my
kids and I their kayaks, and even offered some of their old boards
to surf with. It would be a true shame if the surf shack were torn
down as many hikers use it as a resting place. Tearing it down will
not accomplish anything. It may even cause serious erosion to the
cliff above if it is torn down. Just cite, arrest or fine the few
troublemakers. Most of the surfers that gather there are law
abiding citizens who come to surf the point. I am certain there are
much bigger problems in this city than surfers being belligerent
and not sharing waves. Tax payers’ money might be best used in
stopping the rash of burglaries in the area.
Poncey-boy wants their clubhouse to stay, he
likes it. He uses it to barbecue. The government shouldn’t be
wasting money destroying illegal buildings on public property!
That’s not their job!
Except it is. In the case of the California Coastal Commission
it is, literally, their job.
And the ponce totally ignores the reality that the heart of the
lawsuit is based on the fact that the cops are not citing people.
They’re looking the other way. Have been doing so for decades.
Finally being held accountable. Kinda. Regardless of the outcome,
the cops won’t pay a dime. But the local taxpayers, the same rich
assholes who have been benefiting from and supporting their
look-the-other-way policy will. Which is right, and just, and above
all, hilarious.
Frank Ponce travels to surf. He’s been to “Malibu, Rincon,
Swamis, Trestles, Rat Beach, San Onofre, Hanalei Bay and other
locations.” All bastions of localism, right? It’s been nothing but
hell for me in Hawaii. Roving bands of brown lunatics shouting at
me, denying me access to the beaches overlooked by their
billionaire parents’ mansions. My average day in the water looks
like something out of Surf Nazis Must Die.
In the end Ponce misses the point. It’s not about surf, it’s
about class war! The first shot in a coming battle that’ll see them
bruised and bloodied, their clifftop splendor burned to the ground,
beaches overrun with the millions who live within a short drive. No
more privilege, no more privacy. They’ll be forced to wallow in the
muck of the common man, just like the rest of us. No more special
treatment, no more deserted beaches. Just mobs on every swell, a
total lack of parking for local residents.
This lawsuit will only create an opportunity for more
lawsuits from Santa Cruz to San Diego by attorneys digging for
gold. There will people complaining that they were verbally
heckled, or they felt excluded. The reason this is such a circus is
the close proximity to L.A., a city with about 10 million people
and lots of media. The great swells only last about four months, so
the competition for the lineup is tough. Just round up the few
troublemakers and put an end to this circus.
Digging for gold! Classic! But it misses a crucial point.
Verbally harassing beach-goers, excluding them from access to a
public resource, both are crimes. Crimes which aren’t really
committed all to often in any location other than Palos Verdes.
Crimes the police have allowed, the city has supported, and from
which the local residents have benefited.
My favorite thing about the whole affair? If the suit succeeds,
and an injunction barring the middle aged shitheads who call the
place home is granted, a few will ignore it, get popped, and go to
jail.
Not for long, thanks to hellacious overcrowding in the
California penal system, but something tells me a bunch of spoiled
tough guy white boys won’t fair well at LA County lockup. Doesn’t
matter if they’re in for a day or a year, jail’s gonna scar their
softcock hearts deeply.
