A day after police responded to a Labor Day beach fight that whipped a crowd of several hundred into a frenzy on the sands of Pacific Beach, City Attorney Michael Aguirre and Councilman Kevin Faulconer voiced their support for a beachwide alcohol ban on city beaches.
The two plan to meet this week to work on the ordinance, Faulconer said.
“The City Attorney’s Office is drafting an ordinance this week [and] we are going to be meeting later this week,” he said. “This is a very important public safety issue and so it’s my intent to move as quickly as we can.”
Once drafted, the ordinance would go through a public review process before coming before the full City Council, Faulconer said.
Jamie Fox-Rice, a representative from Faulconer’s office said the councilman’s office has been inundated with hundreds of letters supporting banning alcohol on the beach after the footage of the fight and police storming the beach was broadcast on television news programs around the world.
That day, police responded to reports of fighting on the beach at about 5 p.m. When police arrived, they were assaulted with full beer cans, plastic bottles and other debris lobbed from the crowd.
At least 15 people, seven of which were under the age of 21, were arrested for assaulting officers, being drunk in public or inciting a riot.
The city has since then filed misdemeanor charges against three of the 15 arrested. The three defendants ” Kenneth Warkocki, 32, from Gig Harbor, Wash., Andrew Terrell, 20 from Santee and Ricardo Guzman, 23, of San Diego ” were arraigned Thursday, Sept. 6, and released on their own recognizance, according to a statement released by the City Attorney’s Office. All three defendants pled not guilty.
While the issue sparks heated debate on all sides, some Pacific Beach residents still remain critical of an outright ban and Faulconer’s subsequent position.
“[Faulconer] not only showed no leadership. He flip-flopped on a whim,” Jeremy Malecha, FreePB.org board member and Pacific Beach resident wrote in an email.
Malecha sat on the Beach Alcohol Task Force, which was formed by Faulconer and met for several months throughout the year. The group outlined about 20 strategies designed to curb alcohol consumption on the beach and increase law enforcement in beach areas.
FreePB.org, which stands for Free Parks and Beaches, is a web-based group who promotes individual responsibility concerning alcohol consumption on the beach. The group is opposed to restrictive legislation, such as an alcohol ban, according to their website.
Malecha said the Labor Day incident is not representative of the whole of Pacific Beach residents.
Scott Chipman, however, a 33-year resident of Pacific Beach and alcohol subcommittee chair for SavePB.org called the Labor Day incident the “tip of the iceberg.”
“An alcohol-free beach is a safe beach,” he told reporters at the press conference Tuesday, Sept. 4.
Chipman said people from all over the county come specifically to drink on the beach. When a crowd gets out of control, like on Labor Day, police cannot enforce the laws, he said.
SavePB.org is an organization of Pacific Beach residents and their supporters dedicated to resolving community concerns. Alcohol abuse and its effects on the quality of life in the beach communities has been a top priority for the group, according to its website.
For more information on the two groups visit www.savepb.org and www.freepb.org.
To contact Faulconer’s office call (619) 236-6622.