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Paintball aftermath splats the beach
April 2nd, 2008, 3:16 pm · 9 Comments · posted by Laylan Connelly, staff writer
Mike Martin was driving down Pacific Coast Highway when he heard a pop-pop-pop noise under his car.
When the Huntington Beach resident saw what made the racket, there was orange paint under his wheel well, tires and bumper.
“The street was covered in them, you couldn’t dodge them,” he said. “They were still cracking and popping and squirting all over.”
CLICK HERE or on the photo to the right to check out a video from the event.
Crews have been working around the clock to clean up the paint left over from last week’s Super 7 World Series of Paintball, which drew about 70,000 spectators to see more than 1,500 competitors battle it out in Huntington Beach.
Dante Giuliano, operations manager for event, said a crew of about 75 people has been picking up paintballs from 6 a.m. to midnight to clean up the aftermath. They’ve been literally on their hands and knees plucking balls from the sand, and scooping them up with a shovel with holes that allows the sand to sift through.
The mess on Martin’s car occurred after balls accidently came out of a dumpster and landed at the intersection of Beach St. Wednesday morning. Giuliano said he and four other workers had it cleaned up within a few hours.
Giuliano said the paintballs are 100 percent biodegradable.
“It comes off very quickly with water alone,” Giuliano said.
City spokeswoman Laurie Payne said the city gets complaints every year about the event, but clean up crews are allowed a week to get the beach back to normal.
The event brings about $480,000 in revenue to the city, and the event organizer pays for the clean up. And the paint isn’t actually paint, it’s a water-soluble substance, she said.
Giuliano said part of the consequence of a fun event is the clean up afterward.
“Afterward, we hit it like gangbusters to make it clean,” he said. “I personally can’t leave the beach with a clear conscious if it’s not.”
Environmental crews are on hand to monitor the effort, he said. They will be out there until Friday.
“A large portion of the crew is Huntington Beach residents, we take pride in the places we live,” said Giuliano, who helps put up the infrastructure for the U.S. Open of Surfing and Boardfest, an all-girls event held in fall. “This is the beach I come to, this is the beach I bring my kids to, Giuliano said.
Martin still wonders why the city would allow paintballs at the beach.
“It’s just ridiculous,” he said. “I’m glad they have someone cleaning it up.”
9 Comments
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As a resident & big fan of HB, I was really turned off by the whole paintball thing. While I realize that it generates revenue for the City, sometimes you have to wonder whether it’s really worth it. I run & rollerblade & was blown away by the crowd the event draws & their lack or respect of the beach. It’s pretty apparent when someone appreciates nature & the majority of this crowd it seems came to “dump” on our City. It was just loud & obnoxious. I would think that this type of venue would do better in an area where it doesn’t have an effect of the environment - like the Fairgrounds perhaps? I get that they spend time cleaning it up, but it’s not just the trash that’s left on the ground when the event is over. It’s the scene that it creates from the beach all the way to the East end of Main while it’s going on.
I completely agree with Colleen. The aftermath of the event is disgusting. As is the obnoxious, militant nature of the event which is a complete contradiction to the HB vibe. This is ’surf city’ (no matter how irritating that term is) not ‘paintball’ city.
I’m sorry that “your” beach got invaded. But maybe you could look at the positive side of it. It brought in a lot of money to the city, the shops, and buisness in the area. It also is a great way for people to have fun be outside enjoying the fresh air and sunshine. It may have cause a few delays in “your” little corner of the world, but it is public property not private. If you don’t like people coming to the beach where you live move to a private beach. HB is still part of the USA and that means it is open to the public. Just be glad these paintball teams are doing that instead of what is going on in other parts of southern Cal. like the drivee by shootings and the murders that happen every day. Think positive people the croud is goe the mess is being cleaned up and it will all be back to normal. Just be thankful that you have the right to live in a place people still want to vist and that you have a home in such a nice place. Try taking a drive to the inner city some time and see how bad it can be and nobody is complaining about the mess there because nobody cares anymore. At least this is something that happens once a year not on a daily basis like crime death etc.
It didn’t cause ‘delays’ in my little corner of the world, it was a complete mess and it’s ridiculous . You shouldn’t make the assumption that no one cares about the ‘mess’ in local inner cities and anyway I really don’t think that is what the issue is here. Ya, HB is open to the public…duh, it’s the USA, but what is the issue here the greedy city council that is willing to approve any event that brings a buck in, no matter what the reprecussion are to the area. HB has already turned the downtown area into a mish mash of development.
As a native Southern Californian and an active paint ball player I really enjoyed the NPPL event. Watching the “pro’s” go at it was quite exciting.
Along those same lines, I am an avid surfer who purchased his first board from Plastic Fantastic in “old Huntington” back in the 70’s (yes, I am 50 years old) and I enjoy watching the Pro surf events that are held at HB as well.
I realize that the “mess” left behind after the NPPL weekend is NOT something people would like to see everyday bit is part of organized events. When I watch pro surfing events at HB, I see an abundant of stickers and graffiti thought the area, trash is strewn everywhere and the general public is foul mouthed and are jerks, I don’t hear anyone whining about that! At least the NPPL cleans up after their event. The “paint” that is used is non toxic and environmentally safe.
If you don’t like the paintball event, then DON”T GO. If you precious car gets “paint” on it, wash it off. Quit crying and dry your eyes. Your beach will be back to normal in no time and it will be business as usual.
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Paintball, Awesome, I’m getting one.
Love the attitudes of the paintball supporters, pretty much says it all.