LETTER OF THE WEEK

I am a resident of Huntington Beach, and throughout my entire life I have

enjoyed growing up with local lifeguards, surfers and Downtown shop

owners. However, now the relaxed local residents are feeling the pressure

of a major city atmosphere.

The pressure seems to be coming from the city’s still-growing decision to

build large, three-story buildings Downtown. While the city may be

occupied with modernizing Huntington Beach, the natural attraction of the

Downtown area is slowly disintegrating along with the locals and their

businesses.

Huntington Beach already creates a natural appeal to tourists, even

travelers just passing through town. The popular Surf City draws people

onto its beaches and into its shops. Modernizing some of the shops with

out-of-place white concrete buildings creates an awkward setting among

the Downtown stores.

Unique establishments are hidden in the shadows and sometimes [are] put

out of business by the owners of these new buildings. The buildings carry

a cold and nonaesthetic pleasing appearance that in no way fits the

personality of Huntington Beach. Are these buildings really worth the

trouble that they seem to be?

The city’s plans seem to want to transform Downtown slowly into a

commercialized tourist center instead of leaving the truly unique city

alone. Tearing down rare shops and cafes to build multimillion dollar

plazas with restaurants only creates more of the same malls that people

already go to.

While not everyone agrees with me, many of the local residents, shop

owners, even students do. I live in a city of remarkable individuals, and

our town should reflect such individuality in the businesses that it

runs. It would be hard to see the individuality in large, identical white

buildings.

According to many people’s opinions, it seems that most of Huntington’s

citizens are against the height that modernization is soaring to.