Save Newport Real News in Newport Beach
An “Emergency Meeting” is being called by Mayor Will O’Neill today at 3pm, asking for the council to consider three items of importance:
- Whether or not to close the beaches (or roadways to the beaches) in light of the COVID influenza that currently has the nation under seige.
- Whether or not to support the County Board of Supervisors Ad-hoc Business Council and their findings
- To create a local Ad-hoc business council in order to find best practices for opening, whenever that may be
Obviously, the one that the majority of people are paying attention to is #1.
As research shows, this virus is almost never transmitted in the outdoors. In fact, you are far safer outdoors, with studies showing that of 320 cases, only two were caught outside. It seems rather silly to ban the safest possible place that people can be.
There have always been people in our city who want to close the beach to outsiders. During the 80s and 90s we went through progressively more restrictive waves on Balboa Peninsula, and at one point we had a checkpoint on Balboa Peninsula where only locals would be allowed to pass through– they literally got carded, and everyone else got turned away. The Coastal Commission blocked that, and the community was rightfully shamed for blocking access to the beaches that– by law– belong to everyone.
We are the privileged ones living in million-dollar homes on the beach. This virus has an extremely small chance of being contagious outdoors. Let’s not fulfill an ugly stereotype of beach-dwellers out of an irrational fear. And let’s re-open the parking lots paid for by tax dollars, while we are at it– not just some of them, as they did a few days ago, but all of them. It’s time to restore a sense of normalcy. Summer is here and flu season is over and this virus doesn’t like heat. We flattened the curve nearly a month ago and we’ve had less than 40 deaths in OC so far, total. Beaches are opening throughout the state and it is *now* that we are considering closing– after the outbreak is done? Even if the beaches helped spread this disease, this is too little, too late. Now we just look like spoiled rich kids who want a private beach… which sadly, there is a contingent of people who validate this look even without a viral influenza outbreak.
You can watch the council meeting tonight, live, at http://savenewport.com/council and use the call-in number for comments, or you can email them your comments at citycouncil@newportbeachca.gov — however, this email address often acts like it “receives” emails but does not actually deliver them to council due to IT errors, so it is best to call in or visit, instead.
Current feel is that Mayor O’Neill and Councilman Muldoon will likely support liberty, while Councilwoman Dixon, Councilwoman Herdman, and Councilwoman Brenner will be taking a more authoritarian approach. Councilmembers Duffy and Avery are the wildcards.
However, the kicker? Our beach is a county beach. The city has no legal authority to close it. If the city votes to close the beach tonight, I will be filing a TRO (Temporary Restraining Order) against the city immediately. A judge will see that the city is acting outside of its legal authority, and demand they stop after looking at the document for about 0.000001 seconds. But I’d rather not spend the money on filing fees, so let’s hope the city does the right thing without having to get judges involved.
DISCLAIMER: While many people are living in fear and presume that nobody has done research on this virus simply because the news isn’t reporting the research, when we look at this article in retrospect, it will become evident just how wrong we were. The question will be “when did we know we were wrong”. The answer will be: starting from about a month ago. This was not a lucky guess. This is based on evidence, which is why I linked the sources above, for you to check for yourself. Wash your hands– especially after using the restroom, because while it appears that this virus is likely primarily transferred through fecal->oral contamination, don’t let anyone cough into your mouth, either. We will make it through this, and with temps in the 80s and 90s coming up over the next 10 days, we will be safer than ever before. Enjoy the beaches.
