Embarrassed and ashamed by Seaside

It was Sunday morning and my wife and I embarked on our Sunday morning walk. We decided Great Southern Café at Seaside would be our destination for breakfast. We sat and enjoyed breakfast, read the Sunday newspaper and greeted friends and acquaintances as they passed our table to be seated for breakfast.
After breakfast I suggested we walk through Ruskin Place on our way home. My wife spotted a new Seaside Times and picked up a copy for each of us to read. I said why don't we stop at a table in the center of Ruskin Place and sit and read the Seaside Times before our walk home.
On page three of the paper I came to an article, "The passion for Seaside should connect everyone." It spoke to the issues of what is public places in Seaside and what is private. Or at least some people's beliefs.
I remember looking at the map showing orange for "private" areas and gray for "public" areas to see Ruskin Place, where we were sitting, was a safe haven for a Seagrove resident to walk and sit. I next turned to page four to view the new "proposed" Seaside signage. The sign praised Seaside as the "Birthplace of New Urbanism" and directly below depicts the same orange and gray illustration of Seaside telling all what is private and what is public.  I sat and thought to myself, here we go again.
I then paged over to pages six and seven to read "the letters to the editor." Five out of seven letters shared my viewpoints. Some were by Seaside owners, some by other locals and several by vacationers. The two I had trouble agreeing with tried to justify their opinion that isolation, privatization and exclusionism would make Seaside a much more enjoyable place. I won't go any further with this thought because the paper needs some room to print other articles.
Continuing on, I'm finishing the paper as a young couple, obviously newlyweds or to be newlyweds with their photographer, walk by and sit on the Ruskin Place stage steps in each others arms while the photographer clicked away. Next thing I know I hear a red-shirted man approach them and quiz the photographer if she has written permission to take pictures.  She tried to explain she is licensed, only to be told by the red-shirted "SECURITY" man that she would need written permission from the town council. He then escorted the shocked and surprised young couple and photographer out of Ruskin Place, insisting they could not take photos there.
I thought of getting involved in the discussion but knew I would only make a bad situation much worse. My blood pressure had already jumped 20 points just witnessing this "Gestapo like" police action.
I sat trying to finish my paper and let my blood pressure return to a more normal level when I spotted some children and adults across the courtyard trying to coax their white cat down from a balcony. They tried all type of antics to talk this cat off the ledge only for the cat to sit and stare and roll around having a great time watching all the people below. 
My wife and I sat there for 15 minutes laughing as we watched this family's attempts to save the cat. It finally came to me that this is what Seaside is supposed to be about: Families and children making memories. Memories they will remember the rest of their lives.
I would like to ask the Seaside Town Council to represent the wishes of the majority of their homeowners and not the wishes of a few. Remember, your actions can make memories for people to remember the rest of their lives as well.

Jon Miller
Old Seagrove resident/Seaside lover