Second District Councilwoman Lorie Zapf answered tough questions about hot-button issues including short-term vacation rentals (STVRs), DecoBike on the boardwalk, metered parking and homelessness at Pacific Beach Town Council on March 16.
In introductory marks, Zapf credited Pacific Beach residents with being “very passionate about our issues.” The councilwoman said she has been attempting “to get DecoBike to move its two bike-share locations off the boardwalk to alternative sites,” thus far to no avail. She added she has also gone on record, in writing, to oppose a recently discussed possibility of putting limited metered parking in Pacific Beach.
Zapf’s comments on parking meters drew applause from some, but an adverse reaction from Pacific Beach Planning Group chair Brian Curry. He noted that paid parking is among numerous revenue-generating mechanisms being looked at by a broad-based PB committee. The committee is seeking ways to raise funds to resolve parking and traffic woes which plague the beach community, especially during the busy summer tourist season. He said he felt the councilwoman’s remarks were premature. Zapf responded that she would be willing to review any recommendations the committee ultimately makes.
Regarding STVRs, which many in the beach community want purged entirely from residential areas, Zapf said she agreed with that perspective, but has encountered resistance from the city attorney’s office.
“This is a very difficult, complex citywide issue involving multiple layers,” she said. “I have been the strongest, most vocal advocate against opening up transient hotels in neighborhoods that disrupt the quality of life.”
Zapf said she believes visitor accommodations in the municipal code governing STVRs means “visitors your accommodating.”
But the councilwoman added she has met resistance from the city attorney’s office, which has told her the term visitor accommodations is vague and needs to be redefined in any new ordinance revising rules governing STVRs and their placement. She said she’s hoping to get an amended ordinance on STVRs before the City Council begins its annual budget deliberations in May, but added that timetable is uncertain.
On homelessness, Zapf said that’s really two issues involving two separate groups: truly needy homeless veterans and families who require a helping hand, and hardcore transients who prefer living on the streets and decline public services to aid them.
Noting the mayor has just pledged to house 1,000 veterans now on the streets, Zapf said the city is making progressive in its “housing first” approach to provide vouchers and other housing subsidies for the homeless.
The councilwoman also railed against Proposition 47, passed by California voters in 2014, which downgraded many crimes from felonies to misdemeanors, making some offenders eligible for early release.
“They (state) sold us a bill of goods, because they didn’t provide enough funding for it,” Zapf said, noting that, with the early release of about a thousand prisoners statewide, coupled with police personnel shortages, has created a “toxic situation.”
Zapf’s question and answer session was preceded by discussion from San Diego Police Northern Division Capt. Mark Hanten, and public relations officer Larry Hesselgesser, who discussed recent successes in catching burglars in the act with help from the public, as well as addressing the department’s ongoing personnel shortage.
Lifeguard Union representative Ed Harris, the immediate past District 2 rep, announced his candidacy for mayor. Harris also issued a warning that this year’s spring break, already in progress, is one of the most dangerous in recent memory given El Niño conditions, which have stripped sand from the beaches and created an unusually large number of rip currents.
PBTC meets the third Wednesday of the month at 6:30 p.m at Crown Point Elementary School, 4033 Ingraham St.