Letter: Aesthetics demand a ban on beach tents

We need to eliminate tents on our beaches to maintain the high aesthetic standards of Hilton Head Island, our community. As locals, we live on Hilton Head for a variety of reasons, and certainly the spirit of Charles Fraser's vision -- the balance between humans and the environment -- is critical to this discussion.

More than 2.5 million tourists visit our island and sparkling sandy beaches annually because we do maintain the highest standards in all areas of our community, which makes Hilton Head an upscale, elegant and unique destination. Tourism is a key economic driver to our local economy, and our high standards keep us a world-class destination.

We will always need to watch like a hawk the people and forces that want to reverse or "dumb down" our standards. This includes aesthetics, like architectural planning and development, signs, public projects, and, yes, tents on the beaches.

While safety and litter are important to this discussion, it's really about maintaining and increasing the aesthetic standards of Hilton Head, not lowering them. Even North Myrtle Beach has outlawed beach tents, which speaks volumes. We need to keep our beaches beautiful for everyone, clean from cluttered and abandoned beach tents because it's the right thing to do to maintain our sophisticated island and its beaches.

Let's not hide behind other reasons; let's stand up for our beaches and take ownership of our community and keep it the way that it should be. Charles would be proud.