Save Newport Real News in Newport Beach
This last week brought heavy rains and with the runoff, tons of trash from upland Orange County areas. This happens every year, and every year there is always a media freakout about what to do, and every year the people have taken care of the problem within days– not the government. But alas, we are having this same media freakout once again. CBS News reported that dozens, hundreds, and thousands of needles were on the beach at Dog Beach, making it appear like it was a mystery as to how they got there. It’s not: They were washed there from areas up-stream from the river outlet, and in this particular case, it seems like someone illegally dumped a lot of needles at once. This is a big deal anywhere, but I want to be clear: this could happen at any location in the country, and has nothing to do with “Dog Beach” itself, other than the fact that they share a location (so please don’t go around telling people that “dog beach is dangerous”– especially right at the end of our legal hearings!)
Several parts of that news report are wrong. First, this is not city-owned land, and the city has no authority to send people out to it. The city has not once in its history (to my knowledge) ever cleaned up after this land. So if the government isn’t cleaning it up, how ever would it get done? Private individuals clean it up, like this one, less than a year ago and also after heavy winter rains: http://savenewport.com/2016/01/12/beach-cleanup-a-success/
This particular area is county-owned land and it’s only 300ft wide– not big enough for regular maintenance– so if we want to keep Dog Beach there, then we need to take responsibility for it just like it is our yard and we found a bunch of trash that had washed onto it, and pick it up ourselves (also, don’t call the city of Newport. They aren’t even allowed to operate on this land). Expect that after a rain, we will *always* have trash on the beach, and if someone has illegally dumped old baseballs, banana peels, or yes– even needles– we need to watch out for them and care for them by removing them in the same way we would if it was our own yard where we found them.
Now, I don’t mean to trivialize needles. They obviously pose a unique danger. Be careful cleaning them up, and consider putting them inside an old two-liter bottle to prevent them from puncturing the inside of the bag you are putting them in and ripping it open (learned that one from experience). However, let’s not let the narrative of “dog beach = junkie needles” be created, either. Let’s all do our part and help clean up this patch of area that we all know and love as helpful, free-standing volunteers– just like we’ve done for the area for the last 100 years.
