In a decision that can only be described as absurd, the Newport Beach City Council has unanimously decided to remove decades old fire pits from the beach. Citing complaints from residents, environmental hazards and health risks a collection of Nanny State Republicans have decided to ruin a unique recreational area of the beach.
For those readers unfamiliar with the Newport fire pits, they are located in a remote southern section away from the larger more populated main beach area. No reasonable argument can really be made for this decision other than pure government control on a local level. The fact that residents “complained” about the fire pits is even more absurd of excuse being cited. The resident complaint excuse is not even worthy of being described by the term NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) at least traditional NIMBYs are complaining about something that will be built, not something that was constructed decades ago.
Though this decision is outrageous and I could rant for pages about reasons these fire pits should remain, there is a silver lining. As I previously mentioned, the vote was of this ban was unanimous. That means that Councilwoman Leslie Daigle gave Assemblyman Allen Mansoor further evidence why she is unfit to carry the GOP banner in the State Assembly. Daigle has earned a reputation of a big government RINO and an opportunist during her stint as an elected official, and over the course of the last few months her actions have proven that. This most recent decision is typical of the Nanny State attitudes Daigle has favored though. This leaves me grateful that Assemblyman Mansoor remains the OC GOP’s choice to represent AD 74.
Final note on this topic: While attending Concordia University in Irvine the Newport Fire Pits were a regular destination for myself and fellow Concordia (and UCI) students. While in college my LA County based friends from High School and I had an ongoing debate over what was a “cooler place” for a beach bonfire: Huntington Beach or Newport Beach. I always advocated for Newport Beach. But thanks to this recent decision I have to finally concede that Huntington is now the “cooler place”
H/T to Jack Wu for background on this piece.