The Pacific Beach Town Council (PBTC) announced new board members and discussed crime and other longtime concerns at its monthly general meeting Wednesday, Nov. 21, at the Earl & Birdie Taylor Library, 4275 Cass St.
The advisory board heard specific strategies to make Pacific Beach safer and more beautiful, which includes installing security cameras and a mural project at Pacific Beach Middle School.
The 24-hour alcohol ban on city beaches, bays and coastal parks that City Council recently passed could help alleviate litter and other problems but won’t eliminate all issues associated with drinking, San Diego Police Department (SDPD) Capt. Boyd Long told the PBTC.
“I don’t think it will greatly reduce drunk driving or assaults,” he said. Drinking in Pacific Beach is not restricted to the beach, Long explained.
“There are a variety of sources,” he said, including house parties and the area’s high concentration of bars.
Long believes the ban could result in cleaner beaches, less homeless activity and fewer quality-of-life issues, such as public urination.
It is likely, however, that the ban will not immediately go into effect.
Opponents have 30 days after Mayor Jerry Sanders signs the bill to get approximately 30,000 San Diego voters, or 5 percent of those registered, to sign a petition for a referendum. The City Council would then have 11 months to rescind the ban or put it on the ballot.
Nevertheless, police are preparing for the ban to go into effect.
“We are moving forward and we are buying signs,” Long said.
The signs would list all beach rules and inform beachgoers that security cameras have been installed in the area.
“Cameras are the wave of the future,” Long said.
Since security cameras were installed in Mission Beach in June, service calls have decreased by 30 percent and overall crime has gone down by 15 percent, Long reported.
“It works,” Long said. “My goal as your captain is to bring cameras to PB.”
Cameras could bring “a profound change” to Pacific Beach, said Marcie Beckett, who was recently elected to the PBTC’s board of directors. “I think it could change the mentality that you can do whatever you want at the beach,” she said.
The cameras aren’t cheap, though. Police are seeking financial support to bring the state-of-the-art technology to the beaches, Long said.
Donations can be made to the San Diego Police Foundation Fund. For more information, call the foundation at (858) 453-5060.
Even without cameras, crime in Pacific Beach is down, Long reported. From July to September, violent crime decreased 14.3 percent and property crime was down 2.4 percent from the same period last year, he said.
Long credits a proactive approach, such as vehicle report cards letting owners know whether their cars would be an easy target for thieves, for the decline.
Police are also hoping a new Administrative Citation Program will have an impact on the community.
Starting Dec. 1, residents and landlords of properties that have been CAPPed ” identified as problem locations ” can be fined $1,000 if police are summoned to the residence to handle a noise disturbance or other party-related complaint. If the host of the gathering is compliant, he or she can receive a warning.
“If we come back again, we’re going to play a little bit harder ball each time,” Long said.
Juvenile drinking would lead to an immediate citation, said Long. “That’s egregious in our mind,” he said.
Offenders will have up to 10 days to appeal the decision. One hundred percent of such decisions have been upheld in the College Area.
In addition to making Pacific Beach safer, a group of residents is committed to making it more beautiful.
“It was so drab-looking,” Cori Meara said of Pacific Beach Middle School (PBMS), where her son attends school. “I don’t want my son to feel like he’s going to school in a prison.”
In 2006, Meara and fellow PBMS parent Pam Deitz worked with the school’s Parent/Teacher Organization (PTO) and local artist Tom Plonka, who created one of his distinctive seascapes on the wall of the school’s Science and Technology building.
“The excitement was felt all around the school,” Meara said. “Everyone was talking about it.”
Meara and Deitz hope to see that excitement grow with another Plonka creation: a 40-by-100-foot beach mural capturing Crystal Pier, cottages, sea life and Law Street. Plonka offered to underwrite $5,500. Other families have made donations, and Frazee Paints has agreed to donate paints for the project.
To help raise the rest of the $10,000 required to complete the project, the group is hosting family nights at Rubio’s and other local restaurants. Twenty percent of profits go directly into the beautification fund to help pay for the mural. For donation and event information, call (858) 270-1220.
The PBTC’s Safe and Beautiful Committee will meet at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 29, at Knox Chapel, at the corner of Garnet and Jewell streets. For more information, e-mail Jerry Hall at [email protected].
The town council concluded its meeting by announcing new officers and members of its board of directors. PBTC President Ruby Houck, Vice President Rose Galliher and Past President Don Mullen will be joined by Georgina Smith, secretary, and Mike Smith, treasurer.
Joining the board of directors is Bozier Demaree, who will serve for one year.
New two-year directors include Beckett, Nici Boyle, Joe Wilding, Jim Menders, Rick Oldham and Diane Faulds.
For information about the Pacific Beach Town Council, call (858) 483-6666 or visit www.
pbtowncoucil.org.