The fourth annual Floatopia event on March 20 drew an estimated 5,000 beachgoers looking to skirt the beach alcohol ban by drinking while floating in the water on rafts and inner tubes just offshore at Sail Bay. With great fun came great fallout, however, with residents and local officials picking up the pieces and searching for ways to contain and control future floating parties. Here is a look at the Floatopia fallout: Police Despite the large crowds on March 20, San Diego Police Department (SDPD) Northern Division Capt. Chris Ball said the event was manageable from a police perspective. Ball said the SDPD had a combination of on-duty and off-duty officers, and that an additional 10 officers and a sergeant were brought in. “The reason we’re there is to promote public safety and to be there as an enforcement arm should that be necessary,” Ball said. The SDPD also brought in a mobile observation unit parked on the sand. During the event, they carried out 20 detentions and handed out 23 misdemeanor citations. “Whenever you have a concentrated number in a very small area, you have to appropriately manage that group of people, especially when the issue is around alcohol,” Ball said. “There were certainly public safety concerns with the event.” Lifeguards Lifeguard Lt. Andy Lerum said a total of 18 lifeguards were brought in — 12 seasonal and six staff — to watch over Floatopia. An additional 10 lifeguards were on standby for the duration of the event. “We normally have zero lifeguards on that day in that location,” Lerum said. In the water, a total of six vessels — three from the city, two from the Coast Guard and one U.S. Customs boat — monitored the event. Although the event passed without a serious incident, there were 16 rescues and five confirmed cases of medical aid for those too drunk to stand up — two of whom ended up going to the hospital. “Our viewpoint to this type of activity is that it is unsafe,” Lerum said. “For as long as we have been lifeguards, we have always advocated for people not to drink and enter the water because of the increased likelihood of drowning.” City Council District 2 City Councilman Kevin Faulconer’s spokesman, Tony Manolatos, said Faulconer would like to see future events such as Floatopia obtain permits. Manolatos said permits would help defray both cleanup and police costs. “This is an issue that we’re paying close attention to,” Manolatos said. “We’re talking amongst ourselves about it, we’re talking to police, lifeguards and neighbors.” Manolatos said the City Council does not plan to take further action right now aside from monitoring the situation. Potential action could include enacting an ordinance to close the loophole in the beach alcohol ban. “If people are safe and treating the bay with respect, that’s one thing,” Manolatos said. “But neither of those goals appears to have been met on Saturday.” Park and Recreation The city’s Park and Recreation Department was left to pick up the pieces Sunday morning, March 21, cleaning up the trash left behind in the park. Park and Recreation Deputy Director Kathleen Hasenauer said this was the biggest of the four Floatopia events. “On a typical Sunday at this time of the year, Fanuel Street Park would generate enough trash to fill either a half of a dumpster or a full dumpster, and it would take one grounds maintenance worker about two hours to clean the park,” Hasenauer said. But the day after Floatopia was not a typical Sunday. It took four maintenance workers six hours to clean the park and the trash had to be taken to seven dumpsters around Mission Bay Park. “The park generated enough trash for eight dumpsters and a dumpster holds 800 pounds, so we had 4,800 pounds of debris or 2.4 tons of refuse that was collected by staff,” Hasenauer said. Hasenauer said she was glad that no one was injured during Floatopia. Feedback she received from the event has been mixed. “I’ve heard both sides of the story — that people really liked the event, that people had a good time and also community members that were concerned about the number of people in one location,” Hasenauer said. Creators Since the event was largely promoted on social networking sites Facebook and Yelp, the organizers of Floatopia remain basically anonymous. This is one of the main reasons that, if applicable, punishments cannot be handed down for the event because one individual cannot be pinpointed for responsibility since the information is spread from many sources. Neighbors Sail Bay resident and Sail Bay Association member Nanci Dalzell is not opposed to events such as Floatopia. She thinks this year’s event was simply too large. “The bottom line is you had too many people in too small of a space,” Dalzell said. “It’s just going to get bigger. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it’s a bad thing in a contained environment.” Dalzell said she was also appalled by the amount of trash left behind. Leaving her residence for a morning jog, the amount of trash she saw on the sand was so great that she felt it necessary to lend a hand. “The debris was unimaginable,” Dalzell said. “So many people were so careless to leave everything at the bottom of the bay.” Dalzell hopes that events as big as Floatopia don’t happen in the future. She thinks closing the loophole in the beach alcohol ban can prevent events of this type from surfacing. “We’ve all had to give up certain things that we all enjoy here at the beach because we have a responsibility to the environment and the community,” Dalzell said.