Dry Idea
Tonnette Lyles
November 28, 2009
Filed under Uncategorized
The partying often turned reckless and finaly drew a community together to stop the mayhem that frequently occurred at city beaches. The permanent booze ban on San Diego’s beaches was a necessary step to curb violence, vandalism and public disorder. For years San Diego’s beaches were the place to party and hang out with friends. While some still question the ban’s usefulness, most believe it has been a success.
On Labor Day 2007 a brawl involving at least 70 people mobilized a community and became a catalyst to ban alcohol from San Diego’s beaches for good. Lawmakers moved quickly toward another beach alcohol ban proposal.
For years San Diego’s quest to ban alcohol failed-once in 1991 and then again in 2002, losing that time by a margin of just 3,000 votes. This narrow loss made it hard for beachgoers to take the idea of a ban seriously-until voters finally pushed one through last November.
In the wake of the 2007 Labor Day melee, Second District City Councilman Kevin Faulconer worked to convince the rest of City Council, the mayor and his constituents of the need to prohibit all alcohol from city beaches. Faulconer pushed San Diego City Council to pass a temporary booze ban in 2007 which eventually became permanent when voters passed Proposition D last November 2008. It was another close race, but this time the numbers favored the ban-by a tight 53 percent.
Those who opposed the ban cited increased enforcement expense, time, money and a loss of personal freedom. But after a year the temporary ban showed promise. According to a 2008 report titled “San Diego Beach Alcohol Ban” that was presented to the Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee, even after increased vigilance, alcohol arrests actually declined from 2007 to 2008, and it’s tough to complain about that.
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