The Pacific Beach Town Council (PBTC) discussed local efforts to curb crime and recapped the Fourth of July celebrations on area beaches at its regularly scheduled meeting Wednesday, July 18, at the Earl & Birdie Taylor Library.
The town council began the meeting by honoring two community-service standouts.
Erin Hollenbeck received the Dan Froelich Youth Award and a $500 check. The recent Mission Bay High School graduate’s numerous volunteer activities include serving food at a local church, organizing blood drives at her high school and feeding the homeless.
After graduating from the University of California-San Francisco, Hollenbeck plans to return to Pacific Beach to raise a family and continue to improve her community.
“I love it here. Pacific Beach is one of the best communities to live in,” she said. “If I can afford San Francisco, I can afford Pacific Beach,” she joked.
“They’re there to help out and make our community a better place,” said PBTC board member Karl Jaedtke. “If more people did that, it would be a better place.”
Also receiving recognition for her exceptional volunteerism was Nicole Bleu, who will be attending Mission Bay High School this year.
Jaedtke said the active volunteer can often be seen around town playing the piano at community events, making popcorn and helping any way she can. For her efforts, she received a $100 savings bond.
A group of unlikely participants is also working to improve the community. As part of the Community Court program, offenders who receive citations for open container, public urination, illegal fire rings and other misdemeanor violations can opt out of the traditional court system and instead attend an education session and perform community service.
“The idea is to have them give back to the community they offended,” said Deputy City Attorney Teresa Martin.
The program sends the message that the beach communities are “not just a fun zone,” Martin said. “People are raising children here.”
According to anonymous surveys completed by program participants, the message is getting through. Offenders often comment that they had never considered the impact their behavior has on residents and wouldn’t want that kind of behavior in their backyard, Martin said.
The program also offers alcohol referrals to participants who think they may have a problem.
Last year approximately 30 people per month participated in Community Court, Martin said. This year, roughly 50 people per week are taking part. The program has been so successful that spin-off programs at universities are also in the works. “We’re going to the source,” Martin said.
Police are taking a more aggressive approach to party-related disturbances in the area surrounding San Diego State University, said San Diego Police Department (SDPD) Lt. Brian Ahearn. A new Administrative Site Program, combined with CAPP, strongly encourages property owners to rein in responsible tenants, he said.
Tenants who bother neighbors with excessive noise and other disruptive behavior may receive fines of up to $1,000.
Councilman Kevin Faulconer would like to bring a similar program to Pacific Beach, Ahearn said.
Although a timeline is not in place to implement the program, Ahearn said it’s coming to Pacific Beach.
Turning his attention to Fourth of July celebrations on local beaches, Ahearn said, “My litmus test is violent crime. No one lost their life. That’s a success story.”
Ahearn described three series crimes that happened on July 4: An assault with a deadly weapon occurred in the 1200 block of Reed Street, a fight over a taxi ended in a stabbing on Mission Boulevard and a battery incident on Gresham Street in Sail Bay.
Sail Bay was one of the most problematic areas, Ahearn said. Of particular concern was a party at a three-level condominium, where the balconies were so crowded that officers feared a collapse similar to the one in Chicago in the summer of 2003 that killed 12 people.
Officers did not anticipate the high volume of people in Sail Bay, Ahearn said. Every time he tried to pull officers from Belmont Park or Reed Street, he explained, activity would flare up in those areas, forcing the officers to stay.
With command posts at Reed Street, Belmont Park, Fanuel Street, Fiesta Island, Ski Beach and La Jolla, officers made 5,100 contacts over a 10-day period, Ahearn reported.
In the Northern Division, which includes Pacific Beach, from 6 a.m. Friday, June 29, to 3 a.m. Thursday, July 5, police made 23 felony arrests, 799 misdemeanor arrests resulting in citations and 145 misdemeanor arrests resulting in jail.
On the Fourth alone, Ahearn reported, 85 people were sent to detoxification centers for public intoxication and 10 individuals who had used up their five detentions were sent to jail. Thirty alcohol citations were issued to minors and four arrests were made for driving under the influence.
Approximately 830 people went through a sobriety checkpoint at Mission Bay Drive and Quivira Road, Ahearn said.
Asked whether the SDPD tracks alcohol-related crime, Ahearn said that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) handles such recording. The SDPD’s current reporting system does not enable officers to track alcohol-related crime, he said.
He attributed the $1 million in “skyrocketing costs” on the Fourth to Police Chief William Lansdowne allocating additional resources from other parts of the city to the beaches.
San Diego’s population has also grown, added PBTC President Ruby Houck.
A crowd of roughly 350,000 people on the beaches in Pacific Beach made it difficult for lifeguards to see the water, said Sgt. Rick Strobel of the San Diego Lifeguards Association. Beachgoers gathering around lifeguard stations and alcohol-related threats to paramedics also posed problems.
“It was challenging,” Strobel said.
Nonetheless, lifeguards performed 80 rescues, 108 medical aids, and 1,250 preventive acts.
Ocean Beach was the most active area for rescuers, Strobel reported, and Pacific Beach attracted the largest crowd.
“Pacific Beach, without a doubt, was the most challenging because of the crowds,” said Sgt. Darrell Esparza of the San Diego Lifeguards Association. The majority of calls were to Pacific Beach, mainly Reed Street, and Sail Bay, he added.
“It’s a destination. People want to come here,” Strobel said.
Faulconer, who spent six hours on the beach, thought the holiday “was extremely busy but well-managed,” said his representative Thyme Curtis.
Curtis also reported that City Attorney Mike Aguirre will present a rooming house ordinance that addresses mini-dorms to the City Council in October.
Construction is slated to begin in mid-August to replace the rusted, taped-up handrails at Crystal Pier with new stainless steel, powder-coated rails, Curtis said. The project should take roughly four weeks. Repairs also will be made to the deteriorating sea wall.
In other local news, Concerts on the Green will be in full swing from 4 to 6:30 p.m. at Kate Sessions Park, Sundays through Aug. 12. For more information, visit www.pbconcerts.org.
To find out how you can become part of the Neighborhood Watch program, call the PBTC offices, (858) 483-6666.
The PBTC will hold its next meeting at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 15, at the Taylor Library, 4275 Cass St.