Community leaders have joined in a loose-knit coalition to address common concerns including street vending, crime, homelessness, bonfires, and short-term rentals on the coast.
“The Coastal Coalition is comprised of key community leaders from Mission Beach, Pacific Beach, La Jolla, and Ocean Beach and was established to speak as a unified voice regarding issues affecting our collective coastal communities,” said Larry Webb, president of Mission Beach Town Council. “We are not a coalition of town councils. We are a coalition of active community leaders who happen to be involved in community groups.”
Besides Webb and MBTC, the coalition currently includes beach Neighborhood Watch groups, the La Jolla Shores Association, Ocean Beach MainStreet Association, and Ocean Beach Town Council.
Forming a coalition was a logical step given the numerous problems frustrating beach communities, said Marcella Teran, Neighborhood Watch coordinator for Pacific and Mission beaches. “We realized that our coastal communities had similar issues that we were all experiencing,” she said. “Many of us have worked on resolving them at the City level as individuals and found our voices were not being heard. Through the encouragement of our Northern Division police, we came together as individuals who happened to also be involved with community groups.”
Added Teran: “The community leaders in this group share ideas and their experiences with each other for the higher good of the coastal communities. It is not about the groups we happen to be involved with. It is about the residents and communities we represent whose quality of life is negatively affected by the issues we are facing daily.”
Discussing the origin of the Coastal Coalition, Webb asked then SDPD Northern Division Cmdr. Scott Wahl in January 2022 what could be done to get more police presence in Mission Beach? Getting the communities in Northern Division to speak with “one voice,” was the answer that came back. “We started by lobbying SDPD and the mayor’s office to provide additional ‘beach teams’ for the coastal communities in the Northern Division to ensure that our beaches were safe for everyone,” said Webb. “The initial focus was all about public safety and police presence. We’ve evolved from there and continue to evolve today.”
In the early spring of 2022, the mayor and SDPD Chief Nisleit authorized increased beach team coverage in Mission and Pacific beaches and La Jolla from four days to seven days a week. “We realized the positive result of working together,” concluded Webb, adding the coalition banding together got a major push when the implementation of the Sidewalk Vending Ordinance in the Coastal Zone was delayed, and the need for robust enforcement of those new regulations became clear.
“We addressed the delay of this ordinance in the Coastal Zone and in September 2022 the City announced they would drop the requirement of Coastal Commission approval for the Sidewalk Vending Ordinance, and they eventually started enforcement in February of this year,” Webb said. “We continue to monitor the City’s actions on street-vendor enforcement. We have requested clear parameters from the City Attorney and the mayor regarding First Amendment rights as they pertain to sidewalk vendors.”
It has been claimed some sidewalk vendors are trying an “end-around” the City’s new ordinance’s regulation by insisting their activities are protected by freedom of expression under the First Amendment.
Other issues the coalition has been involved with thus far include opposing the Protect Act, which detractors argue will have the opposite effect of its intended purpose to prevent invasive policing practices used disproportionately to stop, search and interrogate disabled and disadvantaged groups; support for numerous new beach fire safety regulations; and discussion and education regarding enforcement of the City’s new short-term rental ordinance.
