Ranting about Manhattan Beach -- is that a no-no?

Okay it’s time to rant about walking in Manhattan Beach. Every time I take a walk from my house to the beach I always feel this way. It’s about time to write it down and be done with it. And depending how this turns out I’ll put the contents in a letter to City Hall and the Beach Reporter.

Now first off, I should have absolutely nothing to complain about. I live in Manhattan Beach – there is nothing to complain about that. And I live within blocks to the beach. I’m out my door and within minutes I can see the Pacific Ocean from the rise – all blue and beautiful with the sun gleaming down on it, and then I walk down that little hill and I’m on the Strand just off the sand and I can see Santa Monica and Malibu to the north and Palos Verdes to the south and sometimes even Catalina is out. This morning there was full sun, it was warm but not too warm for a vigorous walk, and a little bit of haze over the ocean. Almost paradise, but not quite. The haze took just a little bit of the paradise away.

So what’s the problem? Well, the problem is when you walk in Manhattan Beach you really take your life in your hands. Drivers have no respect for walkers whatsoever. Manhattan Beach is not a walker friendly town, and with all the walkers that I saw out on the Strand this morning and all the walkers on the pier and Manhattan Beach Boulevard, one would think we’d get a little more attention paid to us.

People don’t stop for stop signs, they roll through them. They don’t look both ways when they leave their driveways or leave a stop sign – if they do stop at all. Usually they’ll only look in the direction of oncoming cars, not taking into consideration that there may be a pedestrian trying to cross in the crosswalk. And, as long as I’ve lived in California, I’ve heard the law is to stop for pedestrians. Well, I can’t tell you how many people ignore that rule.

And the worst part of all they don’t obey the clean up after your dog rule. Almost everywhere I walk on the Strand there is dog debris to look out for. We have lots of trash bins along the Strand, and lots of plastic bags available just in case a dog owner has forgotten to bring along, so there should be no excuse. This is absolutely inexcusable this attitude that my dog’s poop is better than yours so it’s okay for me leave its poop on the foot paths. Get out of here. These people who ignore this rule are pigs.

Another rule that’s getting ignored more and more is the no bike riding on the Strand walking path rule. In Manhattan Beach we’ve always had a separate bike path. That’s the beauty of Manhattan Beach – we don’t have to share the path like they do in Hermosa Beach. So what is it with these people who think they are so special that they can ride on the walking path in Manhattan Beach? Maybe they come from Hermosa. And if that’s the case they should go back there.

Enough already. Just thinking about all these things takes away from what I love so much about where I live. I’d love for these things to get fixed, but I don’t have high hopes about that happening anytime soon. I’m sure these lawbreakers are not top priorities of our local police – they probably have more important things to do – like give out as many parking tickets as they possibly can so they can earn their bonuses every year. Parking tickets vs cleaning up dog poop – now there’s a simple choice. I certainly wouldn’t take the dog detail if I were a Manhattan Beach police officer. Again, enough already!