EDITORIAL

Everyone who has lived in Huntington Beach for more than 15 years

remembers our old Fourths of July.

The fires that had nothing to do with fireworks. The drinking that

went way beyond a few glasses of red, white and blue beer. The marauding

bands of out-of-control revelers.

Enter Police Chief Ron Lowenberg.

Lowenberg, who last week announced his retirement after 13 years

heading the force, changed the face of Surf City’s ruckus Fourths. He

clamped down hard, which was needed at the time. He blocked off streets,

limited Downtown access and enforced a zero tolerance for alcohol.

And little by little, the Fourth of July here, complete with the

biggest parade west of the Mississippi, has calmed and mellowed. It

hasn’t come easily -- there were still hundreds of arrests just a few

years ago, a shooting death in 1995 and there have always been loud

complaints about overt police presence and pressure. But anyone who was

here then and now knows how great a change has occurred.

And for that the city and its residents have Lowenberg to thank.

But the chief did not spend every day of the year figuring out how to

handle that one holiday. During his tenure, the the city has been named

among the country’s safest and the crime rate has dropped. Community

policing, a Lowenberg hallmark, has fostered better relations between

officers and the people they serve.

We have Lowenberg to thank again.

Of course, there have been the rough spots, notably the nasty episodes

in which city employees, including police officers, bumped up their final

year salary to boost their retirement and used overtime and benefits to

increase salaries significantly.

Lowenberg rightly was criticized during those times.

Still, the best proof that he deserves praise in far greater volume is

that even his critics know he has done much to improve the city’s police

force.

“I think he has left the department in better shape than when he came

in,” said former Mayor Dave Sullivan, who has had a volatile relationship

with the police after he exposed the police department benefits scam and

brought about a department audit.

Lowenberg certainly has. He will be missed, and his replacement will

have a difficult time filling the void.