City Council Bans Alcohol on the Beaches
Pacific Beach
Photo by Carrie T.
Last week, San Diego City Council voted to ban alcohol on many of their beaches for 18 months. This mainly affects Pacific Beach (P.B.), which is known for having a very lively beach atmosphere throughout the summer and the major holidays. The agreement for the ban came partly in response to dangerous fights that broke out over Labor Day weekend in P.B.
San Diegans have long been split on this issue. Many local businesspeople support the ban; they feel it will clean up the streets and encourage people to conduct themselves more responsibly in public. Families are typically supportive of the ban because they want to feel safe having their children on the beach.
On the other end of the spectrum, the beaches are one of our best attractions, and for young people, it’s a place to socialize and relax with friends. People travel from all over the U.S. to celebrate the 4th of July on Mission Bay and hang out with friends and family over Labor Day. In fact, we have over 500,000 people on our beaches over Labor Day and 4th of July. Opponents site that there are a very small amount of problems based on the amount of people that are out enjoying our beaches over the holidays.
One thing that most locals really like about San Diego is the ability to drink wine on the beach and enjoy the sunsets. It is very common for people to spend a romantic afternoon with their significant other on the beach, which will now be prohibited by the ban. You can see from this photo above that it’s a beautiful spot to spend the afternoon!
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It’s a tough question and usually the responsible people end up suffering. While on one hand I love to drink a pina colada on the beach, nothing upsets me more than seeing beer cans scattered across beautiful beaches.
I think it would be okay if restaurants with beach property could designate a special section of the beach to drinking that way people could enjoy their drinks and maybe beach service while monitoring people’s alcohol levels so fights don’t break out and that families safety is preserved.
Thanks for the update Carrie, this is an extremely interesting blog entry and a good read for anyone traveling to San Diego in the next 18 months.
We are interested to see how the alcohol ban is going to impact Labor Day and 4th of July. These are both big weekends to have beach picnics with friends and family.