Our Police and Fire Chiefs gave the City Council a stern talking-to:  ever-growing beach crowds during our wonderful free summer concerts on the Santa Monica Pier may have become an unsustainable public safety issue for us.

The answer’s not to curb the fun or kill the magic.  We just need to remember what worked for thirty years.  The Pier isn’t a commercial concert venue where bigger is always better.  Let’s return to the free weekly community party, appropriately scaled and less garishly hyped.