#9: Tear Down The Breakwater

Listen, this one’s kind of a no-brainer.  Yes, there is a tremendous amount of “controversy” surrounding the breakwater, and whether or not it should remain standing, and tens of thousands of dollars have been spent on examining whether or not it would be a good idea to examine whether or not it would be a good idea to submit a proposal to develop a plan to determine how much it would cost to fund a study on removing the breakwater.  But, from a sports perspective, let’s look at it this way: without the breakwater, the thousands of kids that go to Long Beach State don’t have to spend their money in Huntington to surf, the local economy gets a shot in the arm from increased tourism, and there’s a decent chance we get to host surfing championship tournaments in this city in the next twenty years, like we used to back in the day:

Photo from LB Historical Society (historicalsocietylb.org)

If a photo of past glory doesn’t feel like a punch in the gut, consider this: growing up in Long Beach, kids have world-class parks to play in, can be taught any number of different sports, from water polo to football to volleyball, in world-class club programs using top-quality local facilities.  But if that kid wants to swim, surf, or body-board in the ocean, they have to drive out of the city limits.  Tear down the breakwater, and we basically add an entirely new sports segment to the city’s repertoire.  And that ain’t a bad thing.  Besides, look how small it is from above: it couldn’t be that big of a deal to knock it down, right?

Image taken from Google maps