Kids Speaking Up: The Floatopian Disaster

» Realist on 05.06.09 @ 05:16 PM

Beautiful, Olivia you have more maturity than college students who are older than you, and more sense than most of the politicians and leaders in this town. Couldn’t agree more and well written.

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» MesaMan on 05.06.09 @ 06:16 PM

Olivia, thank you for your commentary and for having the courage to share your opinion, even though it is likely to be unpopular with other young people.  As the previous poster said, I can only wish that more of our local college students shared your level of maturity.

On a separate thread, I have to say that as a 20+ year local resident, homeowner, and father, I greatly resent the fact that my local politics are so affected by the same people that are trashing our beaches and creating this burden on the rest of us for their own bacchanalian enjoyment.  I pay the taxes, yet get “out-voted” by the transient college kids that do not, and are so self-absorbed that they cannot even pick up their own trash after a drunken party on the beach.

For a demographic that crows about “saving the Environment” at every opportunity, it is shocking to see how quickly they throw out this core value when it comes to an afternoon of partying…

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» the actual truth on 05.07.09 @ 02:10 AM

Floatopia I was cleaned up by IV residents, not by County tax dollars or any of the complainers or alleged tax supporters of IV.

IV generates a huge amount of taxes itself… the best studies show the County makes nearly $1 million a year of of IV.

Lots of people hate democracy and don’t want people to vote.  Move to North Korea.

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» passing-by on 05.07.09 @ 03:13 AM

Yeah, I spent my share of years in IV as well, but frankly I would have been pissed-off with thousands of yahoos from all over the place trashing what I considered to be my private beach front. At any rate, it should be a very easy call at this point: with the distress this community is in at this moment no event that will clearly require police or emergency services should be happening. Our local first responders are exhausted and hundreds of outside agencies have had to send help. The last thing on earth they need is to have to rescue some drunk 20 year-old who has stumbled off a cliff or has gone comatose from alcohol consumption.

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» jeff on 05.07.09 @ 04:49 AM

banning alcohol from the 6500 to 6800 blocks of Del Playa Drive for the next several months will never work, although it would be nice.

I never was affected by the first Floatopia, but it sounds pretty annoying. I’m not against the idea, but it seems like it should be sponsored by say Red Bull and include life guards, security and cleanup afterwards.

Maybe it just got too big too fast and too loosely.

Nicely done article, O.C.

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» PUT TRASH CANS IN PLACE, NOT COPS on 05.07.09 @ 07:26 AM

Instead of paying $20,000 to have police and fire regulating and monitoring college students from having a good time, why not set up trash cans and encourage people to clean up their mess?  Olivia, I am sorry, but people do not need government to protect us from ourselves any longer.  You know how much sales tax will be generated by this event?  I can guarantee the local businesses in the City of Goleta aren’t complaining about all the alcohol and food purchases.  Stop trying to act mature for dissing an event because you are buying into the social norm and stigmas portrayed by people who want to depend on the government for everything.  This is exactly what’s wrong with our world.  Maybe Floatopia II will show that the students have corrected some of the mistakes of round 1.  HOw about we have police volunteer to clean up the beaches, if they are so concerned of our well being.  Grow up a little bit Olivia.  Maybe some day you will be have a deep realization that government is not the solution to every problem.  Having the ability to enjoy the beach and some beers is priceless.  COPS have a price tag and then harass good people, all in the name of protecting them.  It’s a joke. Get out an live a little.  Your article seems written by a 6th grader whose mother told them that alcohol is the devil.  Why don’t we just go back to prohibition because those were wonderful times…NOT!

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» the real actual truth on 05.07.09 @ 01:27 PM

The “actual truth” is that the beach was not cleaned up at all by County tax dollars OR IV residents!! The bulk of it “floatopia-ed” out to sea with the evening hightide! Go to youtube and search for floatopia and you will see the extent of it all - complete with students peeing and defecating and dropping glass bottles. Leave your comments there for the masses and come back and tell us it “was all cleaned up” by late afternoon/ evening when the tides come up to the cliffs. Anyone who has lived on Del Playa knows the whole beach is underwater by evening. I have walked other beaches since and found all junk that didn’t sink, float out to sea. I welcome anyone to go for a nice swim after the next Floatopia and not worry about beer bottles and pee crap in the water. “cleaned up by IV residents” B S!

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» Egad on 05.07.09 @ 01:37 PM

Just pure heathen anarchy and selfishness. I’m sure none of these selfish brats care if anyone’s house is burning down while emergency services are busy “serving” these punks with crappy diapers.

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» MesaMan on 05.07.09 @ 03:13 PM

A shame that you have thrown away what could have been an interesting idea (PUT TRASH CANS IN PLACE, NOT COPS) by careening off the path of logical debate into a series of ad hominem attacks on the high school student that authored this piece.  What a shame.

You even feebly raise a good point about the role of government in protecting us against ourselves (I think I agree with you on that one) but then again discredit yourself with a rant about “COPS have a price tag and then harass good people…”  Sounds to me like a little bitterness caused by some run-ins yourself, eh…? 

Sorry, but your credibility is shot in this public forum, my friend.

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» Schifter on 05.07.09 @ 07:14 PM

Isla Vista is a college-town ghetto, and will be for the foreseeable future.  At least the students will not be drinking and driving during the event (they will be “floating”).  As for the ocean, I think it will be fine;  glass comes from sand and eventually turns back into sand without aid of polluting recycling plants.
  Frankly, a better recycling policy would be to dump used glass right into the ocean and let nature do the recycling for us—glass is made from sand, and turns back into sand with the tossing of the waves.  Recycling glass contributes far more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere than does making glass straight from sand.  If you don’t like seeing litter, don’t walk on Del Playa Beach after Floatopia.  There are many other nice beaches in the area that are very clean.  Let the students have some fun.

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» More lies on 05.08.09 @ 02:23 PM

Schifter if you watch the aforementioned youtube video of the aftermath you will see we aren’t just talking bottles here, and it takes quite a few sliced feet before nature “breaks them down” to sand. Plus this stuff was all washed out to sea to “float” to other beaches and out into the sea it isn’t somehow just contained to IV beach - there is plastic and all kind of other crap that breaks down also, to become a hazard to sealife and wildlife.  It’s a lot more than just a day of fun.

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» Liz DeFoe-Thomas on 05.14.09 @ 10:17 AM

Well-written article Olivia. And I can understand your point of view.

However, consider this idea: Police should not be used to protect us from *ourselves*, only others. The U.S. Constitution is actually in place in order to limit government to the extent of keeping us safe from the wrongful intent of *others*.

This may seem like a rather small issue in the grand scheme of things. In reality, it’s little things like this that build up, until less and less of our freedoms remain. We’re just used to giving them up, so we don’t speak up or do anything. Or we prefer safety over liberty, just because we haven’t thought it through. In the words of Ben Franklin, “Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose BOTH.” The authors of the Constitution were trying to protect us from the slow unraveling, from tyranny.

My advice is this: question everything. Do your digging. Don’t accept everything you hear from teachers, politicians, or the news on television(they are all owned by the same media conglomerates anyway).. But check the fruit on the tree. Use your analytical and critical thinking skills to discover the answers for yourself. You’re a good writer - you’ll be a *great* writer if you become good at doing your research too.

Peace and Liberty,

~Liz

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