Some want suds with their sand

SAN DIEGO -- After two weeks of civic togetherness forged by fire, the San Diego City Council today returns to regular business with an issue that has bitterly divided residents for years: Should drinking be allowed on city beaches?

Virtually alone among Southern California cities, San Diego allows the consumption of beer and spirits on most of its beaches.

But a booze-fueled Labor Day brawl at Pacific Beach has led to a call for San Diego to ban beach drinking altogether.

That proposal is being met with staunch opposition from residents who say drinking on the sand is a San Diego birthright.

“Happiness is a Saturday afternoon with a nice cold beer and friends on the beach, a San Diego tradition for years,” a Pacific Beach resident wrote in an open letter to Councilman Kevin Faulconer, who proposed the ban. The letter appeared on the website of an organization called freepb.org ( www.freepb.org), set up to oppose a change in the law. The group’s motto: “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.”

Faulconer brought up the ban in the aftermath of the brawl, in which drunken young men in swimsuits began fighting for reasons that defied sober explanation. Fifteen men and one woman were arrested. Several hundred people gathered, and dozens of police officers in riot gear waded into the rowdy crowd as insults and bottles were thrown at them.

The City Council session undoubtedly will be heated. The beach booze issue can lay dormant for years, but it never goes away; both sides keep their troops primed with websites.

In 1991, the council backed down from an ordinance that would have banned drinking on beaches.

In 2001, the council enacted an 18-month ban at Pacific and Mission beaches, only to have it narrowly overturned by a ballot measure sponsored by opponents.

A Beach Alcohol Task Force appointed by the council failed to reach consensus this year on a Pacific Beach ban. Faulconer, who represents many of the beach areas, was willing to let the issue stay unresolved. He changed his mind after the Labor Day melee.

“When you have to call out 70 police officers in riot gear, evacuate the beach and have lifeguards close their towers, we need to change that equation,” Faulconer said.

Faulconer wants a total ban on alcohol on Mission, Pacific and Ocean beaches, as well as on the beaches of La Jolla, some of which already have a ban in place. Together, the beaches draw more than 24 million visitors a year.

Mayor Jerry Sanders prefers a ban only on certain holidays. His proposal would also include nearby parks to keep drinkers from simply moving inland.

Some residents say the current ban on beer kegs on the Fourth of July is all the regulation necessary.

An advisory group of La Jolla residents has asked that a partial beach ban be extended to all beaches, parks and bluffs in their community.

The debate’s parameters are well-known. On the one hand: Why subject families and law-abiding citizens to the dangers inherent in mass drinking in a public place? On the other hand: Why punish everyone for the bad behavior of a few drunken bozos?

“A ban unnecessarily sacrifices the freedom of literally millions of responsible beach-goers,” said Rob Rynearson, a Pacific Beach resident who owns a solar-energy firm and is a director of freepb.org.

“When it comes to rowdy behavior, we strongly support strong enforcement of current laws,” he said, adding that he doesn’t think San Diego should ban alcohol on beaches just because other communities have done so.

“It’s something you learn in second grade,” he said. “Just because everybody else is doing it, doesn’t mean you should. San Diegans can think for themselves.”

Scott Chipman, who also lives in Pacific Beach, feels differently. The owner of a window and cabinet company and a member of Safe Beaches ( www.safebeaches.org), he thinks a ban is long overdue.

Chipman said his group is concerned with the high number of drunk driving citations in the beach areas and the loud parties at which drinking seems to be the main attraction.

“We want people to come to the beach to enjoy the sun and sand and good associates,” he said. “But we don’t want them to come to binge-drink. If you can’t enjoy the beach without alcohol, then you have things wrong with you.”

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tony.perry@latimes.com