On Monday June 4th, I attended a meeting of the San Diego Beach and Alcohol Task Force. For those of you not familiar with the issue; a small percentage of residents of the San Diego Beach communities (Pacific Beach [PB], Mission Beach, & Ocean Beach [OB]) want alcohol banned on the beach. The prohibitionists consist almost entirely of upper middle class, white, homeowners, over the age of 50. To be fair, these people have some legitimate concerns over an onslaught of nuisance crimes that occur in the communities. These crimes consist mostly of public urination, littering, and public drunkenness. A myriad of other problems are routinely stated by the prohibitionists including nudity (public sex), swearing, noise, etc. These issues are directly related to public drunkenness. They also have expressed concerns over safety and have thrown in the usual right-wing rhetoric about sanctity of the family. These crimes are committed by a very tiny minority of the people that drink on the beach.

The prohibitionists are extremely short sighted however. Pacific Beach has a homeowner occupancy rate of about 25%. The primary housing type is run down apartment complexes of the 6 to 8 unit variety that are leased to students or young adults. I’m going to crank out some GIS analysis soon and look at the demographics more closely, but I think that the average age has to be under 35. Futhermore the PB area has the highest concentration of liquor licenses of any where in the city. The Garnet Street corridor has the highest concentration of bars in the city with the exception of the Gaslamp District (Downtown). Obviously (to most people) the issues confronting the prohibitionists are much more complicated than banning alcohol on the beach.

My observations and reactions to the discourse at the meeting were varied. Although one overriding theme was increasingly obvious, this is a class issue. Wealthy-ish white people are trying to restrict the freedom of others in an effort to have the community that they want, rather than the one that they bought into. It has racial undertones against Hispanics and African Americans that use the public beaches on the weekends. It is a classic battle between generations. On several occasions some of the older prohibitionists used the age old cliche “what is wrong with these kids today.” Frankly, the prohibitionists want to live in La Jolla Shores, but can’t afford it. They want their property values to go up and they want the students and young adults run out of town. But it isn’t going to happen. There are too many landlords making too much money off of the young people that want live at the beach and there are too many bars serving cocktails to the entire city.

What it comes down to is a two pronged issue of resource availability. Existing laws and regulations are aimed at preventing the behaviors the prohibitionists are up in arms about. The police do as good a job as they can policing the area. On a per capita basis the beach communities have far more officers than any other area of the city including the Latino street gang infested regions of Barrio Logan and Logan Heights. Unfortunately the police don’t have the resources they need to stem the problems. San Diego is broke. Everyone knows it. Everyone voted for someone that had a hand in creating the financial mess that the city won’t be out of for years. San Diego has the highest attrition rate of officers of any large city in the US. They are also among the worst paid in a city that is near the top in cost of living. Most San Diego officers can’t afford to live in the city limits. When we can afford more, well paid, officers we will have lower nuisance crimes at the beach. The police have routinely stated that they are against the alcohol ban. The issues that occur on the beach now occur in a defensible space, it will be much harder to police if the crimes move into the neighborhoods in the form of house parties and bar goers.

The other issue is that there are a lack of services provided by the city. There is a lack of trash and recycling receptacles, the ones that are provided aren’t emptied or serviced often enough. There are a lack of bathroom facilities. The ratio of beach goers to restrooms is absurdly low. There is a lack of public parking. This causes long walks through neighborhoods and further decentralization of defensible space. Criminals are generally lazy, they wouldn’t walk through your neighborhood if they could park a block away. Since the city is broke, none of this is likely to change anytime soon (freepb.org has tried to address the trash and recycling issue).

What is amazing is that the same demographic that is trying to restrict the freedoms of others is the same demographic that routinely votes down tax and fee increases. San Diego has the lowest fees of any major city in California. Maybe if there weren’t so many constituents lined up at City Council to protest an increase in trash fees then the trash would get picked up?

I like to finish all my posts with some suggestions and alternatives rather than just ranting. Perhaps the City Council should pursue increasing the fines and punishment for the nuisance crimes. A $1000 littering fine or a $1500 public urination fine would curb those behaviors pretty quickly. It would also put money into the city coffers that is desperately needed. Rather than having the option of Community Court for petty offenders, require it, then put the people out on the beaches during high profile times. Increase signage, outreach and publicity efforts. Garner support from the local bars and liquor stores and ask for contributions to fund programs and facility upgrades. Ask the liquor companies and distributors for contributions and help.

Be creative. Don’t limit freedoms.