This is an interesting and abrupt development. Just as far back as July, Councilman Kevin Faulconer was non-committal about a ban on alcohol on the beaches. Now, a "melee" occurs and he can't get one fast enough. Before the Fourth of July, Faulconer didn't take a stand on the issue, telling our intern, Susan Grant, that it was complicated.
Kevin Faulconer
This is going to be an interesting discussion. Now that Faulconer and City Attorney Mike Aguirre are behind the measure, the proposed ban may really have reached a tipping point toward success.
It is interesting that our community could become more tolerant of someone having one drink and then driving than someone having one drink with friends on the beach. We ban drunk driving and we ban public intoxication. We allocate at least a bit of collective trust to responsible adults who will do neither but who want to drink in moderation.
PB has more problems than just booze. What happens after they ban drinking on the beach and the next melee occurs? The place is a mess.
I just saw that Jim Trotter, the U-T's NFL writer got a job writing for Sports Illustrated. Congrats to him. There are worse jobs.
The Wall Street Journalcollected (subscription required), briefly, the thoughts of pension fund managers as they re-examine their enthusiasm to invest in hedge funds after the recent losses some of them have faced.
Pension-fund managers from Louisiana to Ohio are saying they may slow their push into these funds after the recent losses suffered at big hedge funds -- including ones run by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and AQR Capital Management -- have reinforced some of the risks.
San Diego County Employees' Retirement Association CEO Brian White was quoted.
The San Diego County Employees Retirement Association, which has 12 separate hedge-fund investments, lost $80 million when Amaranth Advisors collapsed in 2006, though the fund still returned 16% for the year ended in June. The San Diego fund also held positions in funds from AQR and D.E. Shaw & Co. that hit rocky patches in recent weeks.
Still, "we are looking at adding hedge-fund managers," says Brian White, the chief executive officer. "This reinforces the rule that diversification is good."
What statesmanship! Mr Faulconer steps in to limit our rights when it becomes politically expediant to add his knee jerk reaction to an issue that should be publicly debated.
What is the average age of intoxicated, problematic beach goers? Can the legal age limit for alcohol consumption be raised just in the beach areas? Just a thought
Just ban it already. The fact that Faulconer couldn't deal with the issue until a riot occurred just shows how ineffective he is. I gave up most of San Diego's beaches a long time ago because they've been overrun with stupid drunks.
Larry, right on dude! Look PB is a mess! The ABC and the police have allowed an influx of liquor license violating all the rules and regulations. Garnet lost it's family atmosphere because it's not condusive to families. First, all bars in PB should be required to stop serving at 11 and then close at 12. Give PB residents a chance to sleep and have a safer neighborhood. Second, any liquor serving establishment from 7/111 to the Dinghy Bar(names changed to protect the innocent) caught breaking the law mandatory 60 day suspension of their license and 3 violations and your bye bye! As for the cops, they need to get rid of their vehicles. It's time to walk the beach and walk the street. No more riding around in fancy cars or 4 wheeling on the beach. Get out there!
OK so I am gonna ask you Scott... Has anyone compared the number of Alcohol related arrests in the beach areas of LA to the number in San Diego on a per capita basis? It would be interesting to see. I say this because, if there was really enforcement in San Diego and because drinking on the beach is illegal in LA, I hypothesize that the number in San Diego should be a lot higher than the number in LA. If that is not the case, doesn't that imply that the problem may be with the enforcement of existing laws? If that were to be the case then I think the Councilmember should be causing a donnybrook down at Police HQ rather than legislating behavior.
To Norman and Basic Civics. Unfortunately, only ABC has the authority to regulate alcohol establishments and they are unwilling to do so. SDPD is drastically understaffed, especially the beach areas. SDPD is currently down more than 200 officers and it is getting worse. When a major holiday occurs, SDPD has to bring in officers on their day off and pay them overtime which has a significant impact on the budget. With large crowds, it is very difficult to enforce all of the laws because you end up with all of your officers on arrests and writing reports leaving even fewer available to handle the crowds. It really becomes a matter of crisis management.
Hello, people. The longstanding problem at Pacific Beach is drunken louts with excessive alcohol levels caused by drinking booze-- not a lack of "enforcement." There aren't enough cops in this entire city, let alone enough cops to patrol the sands and boardwalk of PB on foot, warning and arresting belligerent inebriated throngs. No one is "legislating behavior" that happens in the privacy of one's own home or at a private drinking establishment. This is not about fakey public "debate" or taking a popular "vote." It's about responsible leadership from the Mayor, City Council and the City Attorney to keep a public space safe and usable by residents and visitors alike. Ban Booze at the Beach.
Kevin Fauloner is a little cry baby that panders to other little voting cry babies. If they don't like a rowdy beach-go to Coronado, or IB, or Point Loma, end of problem. As for the pension scammers, who are gambling with public funds, I have to laugh at Ben White's comment that he "diversification is good"....lol...yeah, sort of like saying instead of JUST playing Black Jack with the taxpayers money, be sure to put 25% on Craps, another 25% on Five Card Stud and the lst 25% on Keno-that is what his Hedge Fund diversification is. It is gambling, and when the pension scammers win ALL the money goes to the scammers fund, and when you LOSE the taxpayers have to pay for their mistakes.
Chief Lansdowne says an alcohol ban at the beach will push the problem inland; the same day as the crowd trouble, with no one hospitalized, at the beach, there were three men shot, five men stabbed and another struck in the head, in other parts of the county. The bulk of summer holiday crowds are people, who ordinarily are not beach regulars--they leave mountains of trash and don't respect the beach. People who move to P.B. and then complain about the irresponsible activities by young people, at the beach are like people who move next to the airport and then complain about the noise. I'm a 55 year old San Diego native; the activities on the beach, edged by the boardwalk are the same now as they were in 1970.
There are good reasons that nearly every city in California bans drinking on their beaches. It is a fact that there are a disporporinte amount of drunken driving arrests at the beaches. It is a fact that PB-MB are known throughout southern California as a "Free for all drunk zone". Nearly anything goes. Foul language, aggressive behavior, fistfights, peeing in public, underage drinking, binge drinking, excessive drinking,homeless drunks, expensive SDPD presense, (What did Monday's melee cost the City?) and resultant litter have made PB-MB no longer family friendly. Problem behavior occurs EVERY weekend. Its time to join the rest of the state, probably the nation, to ban booze on the beach. It is simply no longer possibe to naively ask that exisiting laws be enforced without turning the beach into a police state. Its time to ban booze 100% of the time.
Drinking on the beach is not a God given right. If, as so many people claim, our beaches are here for everyone to enjoy, locals, families and visitors alike, then drinking should be banned. I won't take my kids to PB or mission beach because it's just too dangerous, smelly and, quite frankly, scary. Why should a few idiots who can't control their alcohol intake ruin it for the rest of us? If you want to drink, go to a bar. If you want to drink on Labor Day with your pals, have a BBQ at your house. Most of these knuckleheads in the "melee" probably don't even pay taxes in San Diego. My taxes, My Beaches. Get rid of the Booze!
Lose the booze! It's amazing how idiotic obstructionism by proponents of booze on the beaches has managed to delay (stop) the only sensible solution. The issue is not complicated...only the opponents of a sensible ban "complicate" the solutions, by perpetuating their intentional ignorance. Don't say we'll "agree to disagree," either: that implies some sort of equality between my sense and your nonsense. Sense dictates that use of intoxicants ultimately spoils judgement. Perhaps that explains the pro-alcohol position? Reminds mesomewhat of those other slaves-to-a drug: smokers,opposing sensible smoking bans with their ironic cries about "freedom." Just leave my fire rings alone!I have the right to burn, baby! lol
Funny, but all of you who are for a ban for booze at the local beaches are missing something. My family and I will no longer go to these beaches and it has nothing to do with drunks or anything associated with booze. On numerous occasions we were �stared� out because we weren�t of a particular ethnic persuasion�we got surrounded by them and in so many gestures told to leave, we have never returned to any San Diego beach, I guess they belong to someone else�booze ain�t the whole problem! Banning booze is the simplistic answer!
Just because the police show up in riot gear does not mean that a riot occurred. Enforce the laws already on the books. A lot more people were injured in the surf than in the Reed St. disturbance, should we ban swimming and surfing? Back in 2002 Prop G. (alcohol ban) was defeated by the voting public, should we be wasting valuable city dollars to create a law that the majority of the public does not want? So much for our voices being heard at the poles by our elected officials.
If Mike is pushing for a BAN on all alcohol at the beach, me and Mike are going to be having a sit down so I can set him straight. The goody two shoes have been singing the same old sky is falling song for the last 20 years, and everytime the MAJORITY of the public says NO ALCOHOL BAN. I dont even drink alcohol, but I am NOT going to let the goody two shoes impose THEIR beliefs on ME. ALCOHOL IS LEGAL, it is a legal substance-and if it is legal then it can be consumed on the beach on a hot day- if someone wants to drink a cold one.
Ban proponents have long asked, "What is it going to take for the City to ban booze on the beach? A riot?" I guess Councilmember Faulconer should have just answered, "Yes" and we would not have had to go through 10 months of Beach Alcohol Task Force meetings, years of painfully divisive community group meetings and countless letters to the editor blaming one side or the other for the problems of the day. Saying yes to a ban now is the easy way out of a difficult situation. Will a ban make a difference? Probably. Does that make it the right solution for San Diego? I don't think so.
Ranking right up there with the odious Minutemen, our spineless politicians and their backroom corporate masters, I am fed up with the troglodytes who bray that they don't drink, don't go to the beach and don't vote, but will defend to the death the right of obnoxious aggressive drunks to take over the public beaches of this city and render them off-limits to ordinary residents and visitors. No other city in California permits drinking at its beaches. A ban on booze in PB, OB and MB definitely will make a positive difference: see the stats for alcohol-free La Jolla Shores beach. Let's see who on our illlustrious City Council will vote for banning beach booze citywide when the measure comes up two months hence. On this one, count me a proud Goody-Two-Shoes.
How about a ban on alcohol at the beach on July 4th and Labor Day? Wouldn't that solve the problem with heavy crowds and too much alcohol? Are their "riots" on average summer weekends? It doesn't matter to me because there's no way I would brave the crowds to go to the beach on a holiday.
Come on people! If you have lived in San Diego for any period of time, you know that Mission or PB are not "family beaches". This is especially true on any holiday. The whole thing stinks of a set-up. Oh, the councilman just happened to be there for a great press opportunity!?! Now the guy is spouting off to all the media types about how he is going to save us from ourselves. Ronald Truman's post is genius... When they come for me, there was no beer left to defend me.
A few people get drunk and have a fight (16 people were arrested - hardly a "riot), the cops are called upon to do the job we pay them for, and suddenly everyone who had nothing to do with this is banned from drinking at the beach... this is total overreaction from those that think that everwhere in America should be Disneyland, reserved for "families". For those that feel that PB is not a place to bring their children, there are plenty of other places to go. Some places should be for adults, just like some places should be for kids. The idea that it is "too expensive" to police the beach and, therefore, law-abiding adults should lose some freedom is unfair. I for one expect my tax dollars to be used to protect my freedom, not frittered away on special projects/
The Ban is absolutely necessary. I grew up in the Malibu Area where it was illegal to drink on the beach. You make for a quieter, cleaner, more enjoyable time at the beach. Let the people who are going to take care of it, clean up after it, bask in it. Let the doosh bags have their corny keg parties at someone's house so that the people that really respect and love our beaches can protect and keep them clean. And let those drunks that have to have a sip of alcohol to feel like somebody spend more money at bars and clubs. Clean out the rif raff!
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Scott Lewis on Politics
The Scott Lewis on Politics blog, abbreviated cleverly as SLOP, is a collection of observations, insights and the occasional scoop on public affairs in San Diego. Please feel free to e-mail Scott at scott.lewis@voiceofsandiego.org.
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