Finding Parking No Day at Beach

* The recent parking meter brouhaha in Newport Beach (June 4) is just bringing to light a problem that has been rapidly growing more severe with each passing beach season.

Newport Beach merchants want our business but feel no obligation to provide a day at the beach for us.

If you aren’t on the Newport coast to spend your money in two hours then the city merchants want you out of those parking spaces so the next customer can drive in.

If you try to park in one of the shopping malls close to the beach you will see a swarm of tow trucks swoop down on your vehicle.

The bottom line is there is simply not enough public parking along the Southern California coast for the public to be assured of having a place to park for a day at the beach.

If you don’t live within walking distance of a Southern California beach you are going to find it increasingly difficult in the future to find beach parking.

Between the wealthy buying up and closing off much of the remaining open coastal land in Southern California and the coastal cities cracking down on day-use parking of beach visitors, the future for beachgoers who live inland looks very grim.

IVAN P. COLBURN

Pasadena