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Go Away, But Leave Your Money
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My neighborhood has always attracted tourists, from the Marineland days onward, but it's gotten a lot more overrun lately, due, they say, to social media. Turns out that word of mouth plus impromptu organization of bike mobs and clifftop Pilates classes and the like are sending bikers and hikers and gawkers here in volume, and the town's grappling with what to do about it. The answer may be nothing. It's annoying -- traffic on Memorial Day was heavy where it's usually quiet, and even the path where I run every day was packed with extended families hiking and staring at the ocean and getting in the way. I'm of two minds about this: I'm annoyed by the crowds but grateful if they're spending at the local restaurants and stores and even the Trader Joe's and Starbucks and 7-Eleven, because the better those places do, the better it is for our community. If you live in a tourist-magnet area, are you OK with the out-of-towners or would you prefer they stayed home? (Daily Breeze, Torrance)
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