Editor:
I have been attending the Santa Monica Pier summer concerts for at least 10 years, maybe longer. In my opinion they have steadily gone downhill in the past few years for many reasons I won't get into in this letter.
I think trying to limit the number of people attending by hiring "lesser" entertainment is ludicrous ("Council votes to rein in Twilight Concert Series," Jan. 16).
I think you have a much bigger problem with security. It used to be that as I walked through one or the other of the official entrances to the event, there was a security guard there checking my bag. This did not happen this past summer and I don't think it happened the summer before.
Post Boston Marathon bombing, I think this is the biggest issue you have there on the pier. Not even counting the free rein to now bring booze and drugs into the venue, can you imagine the damage that could be caused by a pressure cooker bomb left in a knapsack in the middle of that crowd, either on the pier or in the midst of the beach crowd? It would be horrendous!
I don't go to the concerts as much as I used to, but when I do go, I arrive early and sit very close to the stage. It really weighs on my mind as hundreds of people fill in the space behind me as the evening progresses, wondering if some lunatic with a grudge has sat down in my vicinity with a knapsack in their possession and then exited the area without that bag.
Nobody thought it would happen at the Boston Marathon, either.
Jon Roe
Los Angeles
