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| 22 July 2001 - The San Diego Union-Tribune Drawing a line in the sand Beach alcohol ban divide’s residents, U-T poll indicates San Diego residents are almost evenly split on a round-the-clock ban on drinking alcohol in parts of Mission Beach and Pacific Beach, a Union-Tribune poll shows. Of 400 San Diego residents randomly selected for a telephone survey, 42.8 percent said they support the ban and 49 percent said they are opposed to it. Eight percent said they are undecided. Very few, 0.3 percent, said they were unaware of the issue. With the undecided responses and a 4.9 percent margin of error, the supporting and opposing forces are practically a draw. Tomorrow, the San Diego City council will reconsider the trial ban, which it approved in April. The survey, conducted July 13-15 for the Union-Tribune by the locally based Directions in Research, shows a clear difference between younger and older residents. Fifty-seven percent of the 18-to-34 age group oppose the ban, while 46.9 percent of the 35-plus age group support it. The City Council likely will hear from both sides tomorrow when it formally receives the 51,729 petition signatures protesting a round-the-clock ban. The trial ban, which seeks to expand the current partial ban – 8 p.m. to noon – at Mission Beach and Pacific Beach, was to have become effective for 18 months starting June 1. It was suspended by the petitions. Although council members have 10 days to decide what to do, some said they prefer to resolve the matter tomorrow when they meet at 2 p.m. They have two choices:
Split emerges Since the petition drive, the 5-3 council block that passed the trial ban has splintered. Councilman Byron Wear, author of the ban and now the target of a recall movement, said he prefers a referendum. However, he is concerned about spending so much money to ask voters, about a trial ban that, if passed, would only be in effect for about eight months. Other council members who voted for the ban – Mayor Dick Murphy, Scott Peters and Toni Atkins – said they want to listen to public testimony before deciding. Deputy Mayor George Stevens said he firmly supports the trial ban. Of the original three councilmen opposing the ban, Jim Madaffer is undecided, Brian Maienschein prefers a referendum and Ralph Inzunza said he is inclined to rescind the ordinance. Donna Frye, elected to the City Council after the ordinance was passed and whose district includes part of Pacific Beach, said she went to conferences at Mission Beach to make last-minute pitches about the ban. While opponents said it infringes on the rights of individuals who drink responsibly, supporters said banning drinking promotes safe beaches and removes temptation for teenagers. Chad Jacques, 24, who just left the Navy, where he was an operations specialist, said responsible drinkers should be allowed to enjoy alcohol. Hanging out at Mission Beach on Thursday, sharing 38 beers kept cold on ice with two friends, Jacques said he and his pals pick up their trash and get rides home, ask or sleep off the booze in their cars or a hotel if they get too tipsy. “We don’t make much money. We can’t afford bars,” said Jacques, a Chula Vista resident. “A beer in hand is added enjoyment at the beach. It’s our God-given right. It’s youth – we’re still trying to be young.” Steve Garza, 25, a barber who lives in Tijuana, was also enjoying the afternoon at Mission Beach with his friends. He said he can stay home and drink in his back yard, “but I can’t meet girls like I can here.” One finding Nearly 81 percent of people responding to the Union-Tribune poll said they had not had negative experiences because of someone drinking alcohol at the beach. However, residents who live near the beaches complain that drunkards urinate and defecate on their lawns and keep them awake into the morning with their rowdiness. Don Mullen, spokesman for the San Diego Community Task Force-Ban the Ban II, said opponents do not want the city financing a referendum. They simply want the trial ban repealed for good. Mullen said that the City Council rescinded a similar trial ban 10 years ago and that it can do so again. He added that the town councils of Mission Beach, Pacific Beach, and Ocean Beach have requested repeal. Mullen urged the City Council to form a task force, including beach community residents, to find solutions to alcohol-related problems. His group has recommended doubling fines for alcohol-related offenses, setting up community courts for swift handling of minor alcohol infractions, and assigning more police officers to beach patrol during the summer. Supporters of the ban, however, want it on the ballot. “We are confident it will pass. The majority of San Diego feels the same way we do,” said Judy Walsh-Jackson, associate director for the San Diego County Policy Panel on Youth Access to Alcohol, a coalition of 150 individuals and organizations. Cleo Wright, watching the sunset at Mission Beach on Thursday, said she is all for the ban. “They cause disturbances at my house – noise, walking up and down the sidewalks and keeping us awake all night,” she said. Phillip Sharp, an 18-year resident of south Mission Beach, favors a ban and a referendum. “Those who opposed the (trial) ban argued that the council should not decide it themselves, but put it before the public.” Sharp said, noting they have now changed their minds. “That, to me, is being very hypocritical.” Sharp also said he has heard that the liquor industry spent money to collect the petition signatures. A denial Mullen, however, said liquor distributors and manufacturers did not finance the petition campaign, which he said cost about $55,000. He said beer wholesalers contributed $10,000 at the most, and about $20,000 was donated by hotels, markets and restaurants. Individuals, too, gave money ranging from $5 to $1,000 he said. Mullen said his group is still trying to raise $25,000 more to cover its petition campaign bills. Ban the Ban II campaign consultant Bob Glaser, who owns The La Jolla Group, a political consulting firm that has handled many local campaigns, declined to reveal details of the campaign’s finances. He said a full disclosure will be filed by July 30, the deadline according to city law. Glaser was a consultant to the 1991 campaign that forced the repeal of a 24-hour alcohol ban on city beaches and in parks. That ban later was modified to pertain to only certain beaches; drinking hours was restricted on others. North Pacific Beach resident Ann White supports a ban and wants it extended through her neighborhood. The trial ban under discussion stops at Felspar Street, near Crystal Pier. “Beachgoers return to their cars acting as if they are at a tailgate party at Qualcomm Stadium (particularly so from midnight to 4 a.m.).” White said. In addition to many beach residents, San Diego Police Chief David Bejarano stands behind the trial ban. He said his department already is devoting 50 to 60 officers a day – about one-fifth of the daily police force patrolling the city – to Mission Beach and Pacific Beach during summer months. “The majority of the calls for service and arrests and problems at the beach are related to abuse of alcohol,” he said. According to police statistics, Mission Beach and Pacific Beach led the city’s neighborhoods in alcohol arrests and citations between 1998 and 2000. Those include driving under the influence and drinking in banned areas. Mission Beach reported 10,374 such crimes in those three years, accounting for 20 percent of the city’s total. Pacific Beach followed with 7,019, or 13.4 percent of the citywide number. Ocean Beach reported 2,322 alcohol-related crimes, or 4.4 percent of the city’s total. The latest police statistics comparing the July 4 weekends of this year and last showed that most alcohol violations in Mission Beach and Pacific Beach fell markedly this year, with the reductions ranging from 40 percent to 100 percent. However, the number of arrests on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol increased 44 percent. Police theory Capt. Cliff Resch, who heads the Northern Division, said infractions such as drunken behavior, minors in possession of alcohol and drinking in banned areas fell because of heightened policing and public education about the ill effects of excessive drinking. Current fines for violating the law range from $50 to $1,300 in San Diego and Coronado, depending on the seriousness of the offense. In La Jolla, where alcohol has been banned at La Jolla Shores, La Jolla Cove, and Marine Street Beach since 1991, the alcohol related crime rate has been much lower in the three-year period between 1998 and 2000 than in Mission Beach, Pacific Beach, and Ocean Beach. During that time, La Jolla recorded 978 arrests and citations for alcohol-related crime, representing 1.9 percent of the city’s total. The city’s alcohol laws have evolved over the years with changing demands. Between 1977 and 2001, the city’s municipal code changed 18 times to regulate alcohol consumption. Changes included prohibitions on where and when alcohol can be consumed, Deputy City Attorney Theresa McAteer said. San Diego is one of a handfull of California cities, including San Francisco, Monterey and Half Moon Bay, that still allow drinking on their beaches, San Diego police research shows. Local beaches that allow alcohol – beside Ocean Beach, Mission Beach, and Pacific Beach – include Del Mar beaches and Silver Strand and Torrey Pines state beaches.
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