City Attorney Mike Aguirre stood on the boardwalk at the foot of Ventura Court in Mission Beach and announced that he would be sending a letter to more than 20 universities to inform college students that the city will be strictly enforcing the beach alcohol ban during spring break.
“[With] people who have come over the years, our concern is that they may not have gotten the message,” he said.
Even with Aguirre standing in front of television cameras publicly warning spring breakers about drinking on the beach, two women in their 20s sat in the sand near Pismo Court, quietly sipping cocktails from plastic cups.
The two women, Stephanie and Carmen, live in Pacific Beach and work as servers at a Mission Boulevard restaurant/bar.
“It kind of sucks that I pay my whole paycheck to an apartment right here,” Stephanie said as she pointed to an apartment-condo just behind the duo’s beached lawn chairs. “And I can’t even go out and have a beer [on the beach].”
The women distanced themselves from those who started a Labor Day fight in Pacific Beach last year, where armed police had to quell a near-riot. They said it didn’t seem fair that a few people, likely from out of town, could ruin their ability to responsibly enjoy alcohol on the beach.
Despite their feelings about the recent beach ban, they were breaking the law and risked being fined up to $250 if they had been caught.
According to Monica Muãoz, media spokesperson with the San Diego Police Department, police and lifeguards patrolling La Jolla, Mission Bay Park, Mission Beach and Pacific Beach have issued about 20 tickets since the ban took effect in January.
At the Thursday, March 6, press conference, Aguirre also warned that repeat offenders will get to know the City Attorney’s Office even better, as we will seek higher fines and even possible jail time.”
Many residents and business leaders in the beach communities have welcomed the yearlong trial ban.
Andy Chotiner, a retired Mission Beach resident, said he’s noticed a cleaner beach and boardwalk.
“I bike and [Roller]blade and walk on the boardwalk,” he said. “I see more families and less cigarette butts, beer cans. There’s less litter and it’s cleaner.”
His words echo those of members from the grassroots organization Safebeaches.org. The group remains a driving force supporting the ordinance. Many members joined Aguirre at the beach during the conference.
Denny Knox, executive director of Ocean Beach MainStreet Association (OBMA), said her office has received fewer calls about the alcohol ban overall. At first, she said, calls to the OBMA offices were mostly against the ban, but she added that when people saw it got rid of some who regularly drank at the foot of Newport Avenue, the tone of the calls quickly changed.
“We get a lot less complaints on a daily [basis]”¦ [W]e’ve had very few calls about things happening at the beach, and our call volume of complaints has gone down,” Knox said.
Though police and lifeguards have already issued about 17 misdemeanor citations and arrested two in Ocean Beach since the start of the ban, Knox added that the real test of the ban would come as the weather warms up.
Jacob Pyle, spokesperson for Freepb.org, also thinks the test would come when warmer months attract thousands to the beach.
He said a reason neighbors report less homeless and transients drinking at the beach is because it’s cold near the beach this time of year. He said many community members are exaggerating the effects of the ban.
“All of a sudden they’re saying that everything is better, and fact of the matter is, it hasn’t changed a bit. [The beach] looks exactly as it has every February, March for as far back as I can remember,” he said.
Pyle added that a consequence of the ban is that it would attract people to some community parks during the major holidays. Some parks, such as Kate Sessions Memorial Park in Pacific Beach and Ocean Beach Community Park, only have partial restrictions on alcohol from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m., according to city documents.
Copies of the beach-ban ordinance are posted online at www.sandiegocityattorney.org.