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Cause and Effect
I really didn't spend much time worrying about the alcohol ban at San Diego beaches since I've learned that if you are discreet enough, no one really cares. Of course I'm one of your middle-aged mother types so I am in that group that basically goes unnoticed by law enforcement.
All that changed on the morning of July 4th. I awoke at 5 a.m. to walk in the Coronado Independence Day 5K Run/Walk, and instead of the fog softened silence I expected, I heard the steady drone of engines, subwoofers, slamming trunks and car alarms. Staggering out onto my deck with a cup of coffee, I was astounded to see hundreds (thousands?) of cars parked as far as I could see. An army of people was already marching toward the Silver Strand State Beach, which is across the road from my home.
My first thought was how early these people must have gotten up in order to secure a place on the beach. I didn't realize that the Silver Strand State Beach had been publicized as the last alcohol friendly beach in San Diego.
Though I believe everyone has the right to beach access, I found myself getting a bit irritated as I tried to back out of my garage at 6 a.m. to make the 10 minute trip to Tidelands Park where the race was to start. In front of my house two 20-something men were unloading cases of beer and bags of ice... no cooler. Were they going to bury the ice in the sand and put the beer on it... or sit on the ice and drink the beer really fast?
These were the mysteries I was pondering as I exited my neighborhood onto the Strand. Stretching for miles in both directions were cars lined up waiting for the State Beach gates to open. I later learned that some people had been there since 10 p.m. the night before.
Ultimately, it took me 40 minutes to drive to Tidelands; by then there was not one parking place to be had in all of Coronado, so I missed the race entirely. Oh well, I was probably saved the humiliation of being one of the last contenders to cross the finish line.
By the time I made it back to my neighborhood, the beach was at full capacity and Park Rangers were turning people away. I could empathize with the frustrated drivers cruising around and around as they futilely searched for someplace to stash their cars.
The uncharacteristic chaos continued throughout the day, with various grumpy neighbors expressing their annoyance. Actually, I kind of enjoyed the lively energy, though at times it did get out of hand. Unfortunately, by the day's end, what started out as merely irritating had turned tragic.
Because of the traffic, we decided to forgo our customary trip to the Coronado golf course to watch the fireworks; instead we watched on the bay from a 40-year-old wooden trawler that we are attempting to restore. The number of drunks operating boats that evening was scary enough, and we were thankful to have made it back to the dock without incident, only to be met with helicopters, searchlights blazing as they hovered back and forth throughout the neighborhood.
For what seemed like hours, they rumbled above the house. We didn't learn until Saturday that a 16-year-old boy and a 21-year-old woman had been stabbed in allegedly "gang related" incidents at the corner of our street. Five young people were eventually arrested, though all were later released except one who had an outstanding warrant for his arrest. The woman was released from the hospital but from what I have been told, the boy remains hospitalized.
Monday morning found the neighborhood associations mobilizing to request that the San Diego Coast District ban alcohol from the Silver Strand State Beach, effective immediately.
I reluctantly find myself in agreement.
-Citizen Voices blogger Candace Suerstedt is a filmmaker and a mother of three who lives in Coronado.
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Just imagine what Pacific Beach and Mission Beach residents --a visitors for that matter-- have gone through for years. You went through one bad weekend. This was what it was like nearly weekend.
The problems in PB, Mission Beach and other areas was not the lack of laws. It was the lack of effective law enforcement. Public drunkeness has always been illegal. So has disturbing the peace, public urination, public nudity, riots, mayhem and so on.. So adding another law does not deter those who choose the above behaviors, it punishes the majority who are responsible drinkers for those who are not.
Indiviidual accountability for one’s actions is how our justice system operates.
Most people are not lawbreakers. Those who are in the minority who choose bad behavior must be arrested and punished accordingly. The San Diego PD persistent lack of enforcement of public behavior laws has been the magnet for those who choose to exhibit poor behavior.
Enforce the laws on the books. If after strict enforcement it is found the present laws are lacking then and only then is it reasonable to propose new laws.
I support individual liberties and well as the individual resposibility to behave properly.
Chastise only the boorish.
@Scott Scieszinski, there is still a haloing effect in the booze ban. Because of the booze ban, those who are irresponsibility are less irresponsible.
I feel that if there were more places to drink, the huge crowd wouldn’t be a problem. Police can’t effectively help people if they have to scurry through the layers of people.
Also, sometimes drunken crowds are not the only reason for stabbings. The more people you have the more likely you are to have bad seeds. It’s just statistics really. Just like 1 in 5 women have hpv or something like that. Last year there were 2 million people on the beach and this year 1 million… you should expect half the violations. I wish more people would think in %.
Speaking of stabbings… I was at a party the other day in PB and my friends were walking to the store. All of the sudden a car tried to hit one guy but missed… disappointed I guess, the guys got out of the car and stabbed 2 of my friends and broke some noses and I don’t know what else becasue I didn’t want to see people hurt. (Side issue if more people were raising their kids there would be a lot less violence and troubled individuals… what happened to the days when only one parent had to work and one could stay home and take care of the kids… now days people are working 40 hours, not making enough, while society goes to shame)
Maybe a more effective route would be to have random id checks or banning people with DUIs from drinking on the beaches since they have prior problems with drinking. If not this something that discourages the bad seeds from going… make it “not worth it” to them.
@Athena from pacific beach: “I feel that if there were more places to drink, the huge crowd wouldn’t be a problem.”
Aren’t there bars right along the boardwalk? It’s been a while since I’ve drank at PB, but, when I did, I drank at the bar. So, I don’t see how there aren’t enough places to drink.
But, taking your point, I wouldn’t oppose having “drinking” and “non-drinking” sections to the beach, much as we have “surfing” and “non-surfing” sections on the shoreline.
By more places to drink I meant on the beach… Forcing everyone to go to silver strand sucks and creates problems for the people who live there (the original complaint of this article)
Drinking and non-drinking sectionS sounds like a great idea.
Drinking and non-drinking sections would be impossible to inforce, unless you were going to administer breathalyzers to every seemingly intoxicated individual....Then the profiling charges would start...followed by the lawsuits.
As a guy who grew up in PB and was involved in fights with drunks repeatedly...I don’t have an issue with the ban.