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January 28, 2008 -

More, elsewhere

In addition to Beachlaw and my personal site, from now through November I’m also going to be writing at KPBS’ Citizen Voices. Citizen Voices is a group blog, where I will be one of six writers covering politics during the current election cycle. Mention will certainly be made here when issues of coastal access and development come up there, and I hope that readers interested in some unique San Diego perspectives on the current election will visit, read and comment at KPBS’ site.

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January 7, 2008 -

Surf School Regulation or Elimination of Competition?

Santa Monica is considering an ordinance to limit surf classes at Santa Monica State Beach. According to the LookOut News:

“Surfing has long been an integral part of the Santa Monica lifestyle,” staff wrote in its report. “Recently, however, there has been a significant rise in the number of commercial surf schools operating on Santa Monica State Beach.”

Unlike the County of Los Angeles and California State Parks, which strictly limit all surfing school activities, Santa Monica’s liberal surf instruction policies do not regulate most surfing instruction.

Under the current municipal code, groups of less than 20 children or any number of adults can operate a surfing school without a permit or contract, although limited number of permits are available for larger groups on a first come, first served basis through the City’s Open Space Management Division.

The City also contracts with surf instructors to offer surfing lessons through the City’s Community Programs Division.

Interesting to note that priority for the permits will go to the City’s Community Programs Division, meaning that if the ordinance passes the only spaces cut will be those offered by the private sector.

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January 4, 2008 -

Beach Alcohol Ban Only Lasts Hours

The beach booze ban, which took effect Friday, also was suspended before day’s end after opponents delivered 45,940 signatures to the San Diego City Clerk’s office just after 2 p.m.

The comments in the linked Union-Tribune article detail some of the different points of view on the subject of the proposed ban.

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Interesting Sites

Beachapedia.org Beachapedia
Cal. Coastal Commission Like them or not, they are one of the biggest players around when it comes to coastal access in California.
Howling Point Your moderator’s personal site. He does have a life outside of this, as shown by the occasional gaps in posting.
Surfrider Foundation Activities and campaigns for clean water, beach access, beach preservation and protecting special places.