Ban Bans

Re “City Council Bans Silly String on Halloween,” Aug. 18: They tell us silly string makes a mess, survives for 1,000 years and clogs the storm drains. Last year, the City Council voted to ban lap dances because the sidewalks were littered with condoms and because people were having sex in the bushes. Santa Monica has banned smoking on the beach because of cigarette butts in the sand and secondhand smoke. Enforce the existing litter laws? Nah. Let’s just pick through the trash, one vice at a time. Let’s prosecute those who litter, clog storm drains, start fires and disturb people who would foray into an otherwise quiet public shrubbery. Let us ban also these efforts to cleanse that masquerade as efforts to clean.

Bruce Dworkin

Santa Monica