You know, until a short while ago, if you had asked me to pick the best place for visitors out of Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco, I’d have said San Diego even in my sleep. There’s something authentic about San Diego which is sadly lacking in tinsel town’s over-the-top lifestyle and in the Bay Area’s political correctness.

I mostly attribute it to San Diego’s libertarian streak, although it could be the Gaslamp’s hedonism and the doped out rock concerts. Anyway, nobody’s judging how you choose to live. At least not until now. Things have started to change, and the legend of San Diego as an oasis for social misfits and sundry hell-raisers no longer holds any merit.

First, San Diego’s voters ratified the beach booze ban by passing Proposition D with 52% of the vote. Alcohol is now banned on San Diego’s beaches, Mission Bay and in the coastal parks. Apparently beach attendance dipped in the summer this year, even though the ban was still in an implementation phase. You can expect a bigger dip next year, now that everyone knows the rule is here to stay.

Not that I don’t appreciate the argument in favor of the ban, but fact is that it hits at the very core of San Diego’s culture. Think about what would happen if they banned alcohol in the Gaslamp Quarter. Everything else would still be the same, the game would still be on in the Ballpark, but would it be any fun? Would it be worth visiting? Would there be a bucketload of conventions, with San Diego hotels full of people from all over the country coming to enjoy the booze and the nightlife? That’s what you take away from the beaches, and its going to hit hard next year.

Take away the booze, and San Diego becomes just another nice place with well mannered people. Not gonna work. And if that wasn’t enough, we have Mexican dope peddlers digging tunnels from Tijuana to San Diego, and there’s a real danger now that the gangland violence and lawlessness in Tijuana might spill over across the border. And if even that’s not enough, you have the Air Force adding to the pain by crashing fighter jets into residential areas, and killing their own citizens, instead of keeping the airspace safe.

Posted on December 13th, 2008 by Thomas
Filed under: san diego