PB Leads San Diego with 334 DUI Arrests – in 2001 (aka. Panels to air beach alcohol ban)

The Ocean Beach and Pacific Beach town councils are scheduled to discuss a total ban on alcohol at beaches during two public hearings today and tomorrow.

The Ocean Beach Town Council meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. today at the Ocean Beach Recreation Center, 4726 Santa Monica Ave.

Pacific Beach will discuss the issue at 7 p.m. tomorrow at Earl and Birdie Taylor Library, 4275 Cass St.

Both communities already ban alcohol on the beaches from 8 p.m. to noon.

Ocean Beach Town Council president Carol Smith said council members are worried that if neighboring beach communities — Mission Beach and Pacific Beach — recommend total alcohol bans, and they are approved by the San Diego City Council, the drinking problems will move to Ocean Beach.

Town councils are advisory bodies that make recommendations on various community issues.

“We’re worried the crowd will come to do the activities they do in Mission Beach,” Smith said. “The No. 1 offense is open containers, but that is not our major concern. The main thing we are concerned about is violent acts.”

According to the San Diego Police Department, Mission Beach led the city’s neighborhoods in alcohol arrests and citations, such as public drunkenness and possession of alcohol, in 1999.

Mission Beach accounted for 3,830 arrests that year, followed by Pacific Beach at 2,363. Ocean Beach came in fourth at 768.

Ocean Beach recorded fewer DUI arrests in 1999 than the other two beach communities. While Ocean Beach accounted for 86, Pacific Beach led the city with 342 arrests, and in Mission Beach there were 137.

Smith said a poll of 115 community residents who attended last month’s town council meeting showed that 75 percent were opposed to a total alcohol ban.

San Diego police and City Councilman Byron Wear are scheduled to address the Ocean Beach Town Council today, but Smith said she is not sure if a definitive vote will be taken.

In Pacific Beach, town council members are expecting a large crowd to show up and vote on this hot issue tomorrow, said Karl Jaedtke, president of the town council. All members in attendance will be allowed to vote along with the town council’s board, he said.

The Mission Beach Town Council will discuss whether to recommend a 24-hour alcohol ban to the City Council during its next monthly meeting on the second Wednesday of March, town council president Dick Mitchell said. Mission Beach currently bans alcohol on its beaches from 8 p.m. to noon.

Source: Angela Lau. The San Diego Union – Tribune. San Diego, Calif.: Feb 20, 2001.  pg. B.2