Change isn’t perfect, but it’s a wise one

Throughout the debate about how or whether to accommodate more children into Newport Beach’s Junior Lifeguard program, one thing has never been up for argument: The program is a winner.

And that, of course, was the problem. The program is so good that more parents wanted their kids in it than Newport Beach could handle. Last year, about 300 kids who passed the program’s required swim test but didn’t live in Newport Beach were denied spots.

Now, because of a smart decision by the City Council, more kids will get to experience the fun, but more importantly, the learning that happens on the sand each summer.

What the council decided, based on requests from the city’s Fire Department, which includes the lifeguards, is to create two four-week sessions instead of the old single-session, eight-week program. By adding Fridays to those weeks, the number of instruction days should only drop from 24 to 17 -- by no means a perfect situation, but by all means a better option than keeping hundreds of kids each year from getting important water-safety knowledge (and a month of healthy activity on the beach).

Less for more, in this case, was better than more for less.

What Newport Beach faced in coming to this solution is a familiar conundrum. Because of its beaches and its harbor, Newport Beach is a destination spot, and that means that the city has to serve an inordinate number of people who don’t live within its borders.

Police officers and fire fighters aid nonresidents; they can’t let them get robbed or leave them in burning buildings just because they don’t pay taxes that foot the bill. Trash collectors have to pick up heavier loads because nonresidents have tossed their garbage into city trash cans; they can’t just let the non-Newport trash fester in the gutters. (Nonresidents, of course, do add money to the city’s coffers by shopping in town while they are here.)

And the city’s Junior Lifeguard program should teach nonresidents and residents alike how to safely swim in the ocean, how to perform first aid and how to get and stay in shape.

It’s a responsibility that comes with the fortune of being Newport Beach.