Pacific Palisades residents want to keep the midnight to 5 a.m. beach curfew in place.
Along L.A. City Beaches, Including Will Rogers
(Editor’s note: in response to Community Activist Lucy Han’s warning that talks were underway about lifting the midnight to 5 a.m. current beach curfew, resident Linda R. Friar, Ph.D. wrote the following letter to L.A. City Attorney Mike Feuer and Councilman Bonin’s Chief of Staff Chad Molnar.)
Friar wrote on August 31: Opening the beaches at night would be a great disservice to the general public. It will result in the same problems that occurred in the past, including public drug abuse, increased crime, human waste, and unhealthy trash such as used needles. Individuals and families will be driven away from using our valuable beaches.
If this is a misguided attempt to accommodate the thousands of people living on the streets, it is terrible public policy. I encourage the City to pursue effective ways of moving people off the street and public spaces which may include testing the limits of various court decisions that led to the mess we are in at the moment.
Again, the answer is not to open the beaches to the literal cesspools the City has allowed to develop in downtown and elsewhere. We are already notorious for the disgusting state of our City and the inept response of local government.
Decisions about the beaches should not be made behind closed doors and without extensive public input. Thank you for putting your efforts to more constructive solutions.
Chief of Staff Chad Molna responded to Friar by email the same day:
“Councilman Bonin agrees and he remains vigorously opposed to any agreement that lifts the curfews at our beaches. We’ll continue to keep an eye on this and make our position clear to the City Attorney.”