The Pacific Beach Town Council (PBTC) discussed Fourth of July preparations and debated a proposed alcohol ban on area beaches at its Wednesday, June 21 meeting at Pacific Beach Middle School ” but did not vote on the controversial issue. The matter will instead be decided by mail-in ballot, announced PBTC President Don Mullen.
Support for mail-in ballots is “pretty impressive,” Mullen said. In a newsletter survey of the council’s almost 500 members, 120 said they supported voting by mail-in ballot, while 24 opposed the measure, he said. The same survey, he added, indicated that 113 approved voting on the alcohol ban by mail-in ballot with 13 opposed.
The mail-in ballots will go out in early July and include pro and con arguments for the ban.
The decision angered some of the approximately 200 attendees, who said that PBTC bylaws don’t permit voting by mail-in ballot.
While only the general membership can change PBTC bylaws, the board can change the standing rules, Mullen said.
“This is mixing apples and oranges,” said town council board member Rick Oldham. Decisions are be made at meetings, he added.
Mail-in ballots are designed to give a voice to members who can’t make it to meetings, Mullen said. The PBTC will have a chance to discuss the ballots at its July 19 meeting.
Others questioned whether all members who cannot make it to meetings should be allowed to vote. Under current PBTC bylaws, membership is open to “anyone who lives, works or has an interest in Pacific Beach.”
“So someone who lives in Arizona would have the same say as I do?” asked one attendee.
With emotions already high from the alcohol debate, some people began booing, others yelled out questions, and another stood and began reading out loud from the town council’s bylaws.
“Let’s end the meeting right now,” said member Bill Bradshaw. “It’s a farce.”
When Mullen invited anyone who didn’t want to stay for the scheduled presentation to leave, Bradshaw and approximately 40 others filed out of the auditorium.
In light of the crowd’s agitation, John Hartley of San Diegans for Clean Elections decided not to speak. The meeting was abruptly adjourned ” but roughly 75 people stayed behind to ask questions, voice their concern, and express their frustration.
Voting by mail-in ballot before discussing the measure at the July 19 meeting doesn’t make sense, said PBTC past president, former honorary mayor and Beach & Bay Press columnist Eve Small. “Is there a disconnect here?” she asked.
Some members charged that Mullen was overstepping his limits and trying to make unilateral changes.
Others felt the concern was overblown.
“It’s funny how they’d be opposed to something that would bring greater community participation,” said PBTC board member Scott Crosby.
By introducing mail-in ballots, Mullen said he is following through on his promise to increase member participation.
“I, as president, will not allow my legacy to be allowing the minority to rule the majority,” he said. Mail-in ballots would give young people with families and elderly people who can’t make it to meetings “the ultimate ability to vote,” Mullen said.
PBTC treasurer Britta Justesen thinks mail-in ballots more closely resemble the voting model for standard elections. Citing absentee ballots, she said, “It gives the whole membership a voice. We’re trying to listen. We’re trying to make changes.”
The proposed change to drinking regulations on area beaches also sparked passionate debate.
Judith Bomberger, who proposed the alcohol ban at the PBTC’s May meeting, said, “Alcohol and this beach do not mix.”
Calling alcohol on the beach “a failed experiment,” she said that “raucous, rude, profane behavior” by drunken beachgoers prevents her and her four children from enjoying the beach.
Citing the 80 percent drop in crime after La Jolla banned alcohol from its beaches, Bomberger said that the PBTC and elected officials “should be held accountable for crime and other problems at Pacific Beach.”
“We are what’s left [of beaches where alcohol is allowed]. We’re party central,” said Small. “I want to go to my beach and hear the ocean, not drunks.”
Alcohol is not the problem, said Pacific Beach resident and Freepb.org member Paul Falcone. Bigger problems like an outdated business district, old schools, damaged curbs and sidewalks and a weak infrastructure are the issues the community should focus on, he said. Alcohol restrictions would be ineffective and cater to the “needs of the few,” Falcone said.
Enforcement is the real issue, said PBTC board member Patrick Finucane.
“Indecent, obnoxious behavior is illegal,” he said. “If the police enforced it, it wouldn’t be a problem.”
Alcohol-related problems aren’t restricted to the beaches, said Oldham. “Drunks on the roads endanger people throughout the county,” he added.
In response to several claims that families don’t feel safe at Pacific Beach, one attendee said, “Alcohol on the beach is not a new thing. They knew about it.”
Currently, alcohol can only be consumed at the beach from noon to 8 p.m.
The San Diego Police Department (SDPD) is entering the final phase of its three-year plan to improve the culture of the traditionally raucous event.
The past two years SDPD increased the number of officers patrolling area beaches to approximately 300, winning mostly positive reviews from residents and community groups.
Calling July 4, 2003, “one of the worst Fourths” he had seen due to excessive drinking and parties, Councilman Kevin Faulconer said that the culture of the event had improved.
“It’s better, but not perfect. This is an important year. We’re going to take a hard look at it, what worked and what didn’t,” he said.
The SDPD will have 125 extra in-uniform and undercover officers on the beaches and bays Saturday and Sunday, July 1 and 2, said Capt. Boyd Long, as well as 150 additional officers on the Fourth.
Officers will be stationed at command posts at DeAnza Cove, Fiesta Island, Crown Point, Sail Bay, the foot of Reed Street and Belmont Park.
The SDPD is also using horses along the boardwalk, 25 to 35 motorcycle officers, a traffic care plan, helicopter surveillance, lifeguards and gang suppression teams to manage the more than one million people who traditionally head to the beaches.
The gang suppression teams have already swept the area to help prevent violence, said Assistant Police Chief Lou Scanlon.
“The goal is to deal with issues before they become larger,” said Long.
The beefed-up enforcement does not come without a cost however. The price tag for the holiday is $1 million, said Long, with the majority going to overtime costs for police officers.
This year’s overtime costs are fully funded for the first time, Scanlon said.
Freepb.org is donating 120 cardboard trash receptacles to be distributed from La Jolla to Sail Bay, said freepb.org executive director Jeremy Malecha. Freepb.org is also seeking volunteers to help with holiday trash cleanup.
After the fireworks, Honorary Mayor Karl Jaedtke presented Mission Bay High graduates Jamie Pratt and Kyre Ward with the Dan Froelich Youth Award and a $500 check for their exceptional volunteerism.