This is the photo Ch 10News ran with the article about public drug use in OB.
Editordude: Channel 10 News is raising the issue of public drug use in Ocean Beach, – on the beach itself, in the parking lots – in the following piece. It raises the thought that there’s been an increase in young people in the neighborhood, panhandling, selling and doing drugs. Some local residents are upset. (Our local photog Jim Grant is quoted.) All these allegations shouldn’t surprise old-timers – these are the same kind of accusations – true or not – that have been made about the kids in OB since the late sixties. And if it is all true, it’s not surprising at all – given the nature of the Great Recession. How many jobs are actually out there for young people? By the way, if there are more homeless – kids or not – why are there no homeless services in OB? Here’s the post:
Public Drug Use Upsets Ocean Beach Residents
Channel 10NEWS / February 2, 2010
Ocean Beach residents are upset about what they said is dangerous activity and aggressive panhandling. It’s a coastal community known for its sunsets and unique local shops, but it’s what’s selling on the sand that has some residents and business owners fuming.
Art Cardenas said he’s never been intimidated by what he sees, but he doesn’t like it. “You come down on a weekend and everybody’s smoking dope. Everybody! You see these guys selling meth all the time; so wired out it’s scary.”
Jim Grant took photographs of people doing drugs, and he told 10News, “I just see a lot of drug activity, illegal activity, panhandling. They try to sell you stuff that they don’t own. And I think it’s getting worse. There’s been a lot more groups of young people coming in during the last couple of months than for the last three or four years.”
Police officers patrol the pier and boardwalk areas and frequently hand out tickets. They told 10News there’s been an increase in the number of young homeless people in Ocean Beach, but there doesn’t appear to be a significant increase in drug abuse.
For the remainder of the article, go here.
{ 64 comments… read them below or add one }
Slow news day?????
WALLNUTS, TROLLS AND KNUCKLEHEADS-“Pissing off the OBGentry since 1968”
OH, How the hipsters of my generation have sunken (see below and below and below that)
It’s a fine line and a tough balance. I support tolerance towards the street kids and some degree of services for them within OB. I do not support becoming a magnet for a large crowd of hard drug users or enabling these young “travelers” becoming full-scale homeless with serious and potentially irreversible mental health issues. In other words, small crowds having drum circles and smoking j’s, hitting me up for spare change for beer money or food? All good, party on. Heroin needles on the beach, being so tweaked out that you run over someone’s kid chasing a frisbee that other people are playing with, or stealing stuff from my neighbor’s yard to make a big beach bonfire at 2am? I’m pretty much all set with that.
there are no services in OB. Which is why there are so many problems.
Lane-Apply a little oil of Disaster Capitalism to the wound here. The most aggregious developments in OB come with a subtext of reducing crime. OB is the bottom of the public infrastructure chain for a reason. Can you guess what that is?
I dont quite follow – I think I do but can you divulge further?
OK-But I think you’ve got a grip on it> OB was supposed to get upgrades to the lifeguard station, library and firestation but got postponed for budgetary reason several years ago. The police had a storefront on Newport until the landlord raised the rents and forced them out. The youth services center on Newport wasn’t providing the kind of return that a brew-pub most certainly will and street repairs, undergrounding utilities and so on and so forth. The people are pissed off for good reason, no? So what do the “good” people of OB do instead of creating a critical mass of opinion to demand adequate funding for public services? They blame the victims.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard the “grumpy anecdote” rationale before the planning board, town council and the press. And with a city councilmember who owes his election to the upscale gentry of Pt. Loma, Mission Hills and Downtown our community gets shafted in the political arena. If you want to see how that plays out in concrete (sic) terms, take a walk to the 5000 Block of W. Pt. Loma Blvd. and cast your eyes on the Stebbins residence. Getting rid of the “rampant drug dealing” was the property owners rationale for this and upcoming developments in this part of OB, the disasterous “War Zone” of popular culture.
One high mope in his birthday suit was enough to recreate an image of OB the “good”, “hard working” ,”tax paying” “middle americans” can’t wait to fix. And by what means? Well, by the same “free market” methods that got not only my community, but my country and the world into this mess in the first place. And so it goes.
Well Lane, you sure got me to thinking on that one, goddamn it! I’m off to a planning board meeting were several of the developers will be asking for a waiver on that which requires them to underground their utilities on new condo projects.
See what I mean? For a detailed description of disaster capitalism on a macro scale see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shock_Doctrine
Dios sus bedigan,
Danny
That’s a double-edged sword, though. Places that provide services, however well-intentioned, often become magnets for homelessness. Can also probably differentiate here between these young travelers in OB and the hardcore homeless population in terms of the levels and kinds of services needed. There’s just a balance there between making sure people have access to food and human services and enabling what ultimately ends up as a pretty horrific lifestyle for most people. Even providing food can have the unintended consequence of freeing kids up to spend all their spare change on drugs and booze. I dunno, man… I am cool with it on a certain scale, and maybe even the current one, but I wouldn’t want OB to become Homeless University. Not for my sake as a resident here, not for OB, and not for those kids either.
Judging from the attitudes of many of the people on this blog, I can tell that the yuppie-esque attitudes that infiltrated North Park and East Village/Downtown are starting to leak into our own little slice of utopia. Lets be honest though – there are no services or resources for these folks now, and they are still here, living in our community about as peacefully as a bunch of young homeless kids can. Offer them some food and a place to sleep one or two nights out of the week, and you have a much less volatile situation. Word is there used to be a youth drop in center on Newport….a brew-pub is moving into that building. Sounds like OB is starting to borrow from the EV/NP model of gentrification. If you’re into that kind of thing, then you will probably be real happy with what OB is going to become in a couple years.
Nah, Lane… that ain’t me. I’m a tolerant dude and I am not trying to beat up on these kids here. If it stays like it has been, whatever… power to them. I am just questioning whether or not that crowd is getting a little rougher around the edges of late. My personal experience would point to that, but it may vary for others. I know that a lot of those kids are just running from bad family situations or pursuing an alternative lifestyle, and that’s cool. It is NOTHING near what I saw in the Haight a few years ago, where there were several thousand of these kids literally within 3 blocks of my apartment. After living there and other places that had a similar issue, I could not help but be left with the impression that tolerance and compassion was in many instances just a mask for enabling a lifestyle that puts these kids on a fast track towards homelessness, and a life of addiction, mental illness and misery. When it ends up there, as it does for so many of them, it is not compassion that took place, it’s something else entirely.
I understand that concern – that young homelessness will lead to a cycle of poverty and street life that will only end badly. Thats why the lack of services is so glaring. How do you expect addiction, mental illness, and misery to be alleviated without SOME form of assistance? if that is having a special police unit thats trained to work with runaways side by side with a therapist or mental health specialist interacting with the population or having a drop in center in the neighborhood for people under 21, or something like that – i dont see that as masked compassion. I see that as bare minimum resources in helping these people. Unfortunately, there isn’t anyone advocating for them….they are voiceless, outside of a few organizations and a few bloggers. It is obviously not cut and dry……
In addition to public assistance there are parents, family members and friends for help. I think some people may choose to drop out….because they think its cool. But as one ages, gets abused, gets sick it’s not so cool anymore. Unfortunately, the city is broke and OB is fighting to keep our library open so I can’t see any money coming to OB for programs to help youth in need. Maybe some of the churches in our community will or are lending a helping hand.
here’s the kind of comment that this story solicits (from TV10’s webpage):
“Put a bounty on them. Problem solved in a weekend. Make sure you have a dump truck for all the body’s.”
the story offers up NO evidence other than anecdotal recitals from “some” residents. are arrests up? has there been an increase in overdoses? is drug related crime up?
i really don’t see it being any different than it has been for the last 40 years.
There’s existing laws in place regarding alcohol consumption at the beach, just as there are anti-smoking laws. If these two very basic laws were enforced chances are you’d see less “dopers” taking up space.
And if people would quit enabling the young “Kerouacians” by giving them handouts, and calling out anyone who does, maybe they’d move along to a city that would be more forgiving to their cause.
billyraydrums you hit the nail on the head. dont give them hand outs.
I agree with Doug Porter — seems like grumpy anecdotes are the sole driver of this story. The info from the police is the only info that strikes me as relevant: “there’s been an increase in the number of young homeless people in Ocean Beach, but there doesn’t appear to be a significant increase in drug abuse.”
Just a few years back, it was the hard drinkers at the foot of Newport who some people often complained about. To me, the complaints felt like class discrimination, since folks couldn’t point to any particular laws the drinkers were breaking, but just didn’t like them being around.
Once the drinking laws changed, the drinking scene dissipated (or more accurately, moved to less visible locations). Now perhaps it’s the young homeless who have drawn the ire of the blue noses.
we cant forget years of neglecting to fund adequate services for the homeless in the area – like food distributions, medical treatment (particularly mental health), shelters….our council representative is fighting the rest of the council to get rid of a 250 bed tent in east village and put it elsewhere…meanwhile, thousands of people sleep on the street. people need to get their priorities straight and look at the reality of the situation.
intresting story…from the 10 news blog ” I was down at OB saturday it was so bad i just turned aound and left” thats not good for the mom n pop store owners…
that gauntlet also know as the seawall can be a pain on a sunny day….
For me personally, it’s mostly just a question of scale. With smaller groups of street kids, there tends to be more of a community spirit among them and they self-police a bit. Past a certain point, it’s more of a viable market for (the bad kind of) dealers, the panhandling gets more competitive and more aggressive and you are bringing in a totally different kind of crowd. No community for them or the neighborhood. Sorta like the RVs. The regular ones have been here forever and are a legitimate part of OB. With 100 of them in the summer, it’s mostly just people taking up parking spots from the people who live here. Probably the same dynamic with surfers, too. Or tourists, for that matter. All good things in moderation, I suppose. Anyhow, not looking to round up the seawall crowd and kick them out, not trying to gentrify. Have just lived in enough places where the street crowd got totally out of control and became something very different than hippie culture, and have maybe noticed a recent shift towards that in the seawall crowd here.
Well said.
Litter, dog crap and that in your face attitude is a real downer at the pier, cliffs or beach.
you think its just the homeless youth that leaves dog crap at our most visible landmarks? How about all the visitors who aren’t from OB that decide its ok not to curb their dogs because they dont live here? Ive seen it too many times. Walk your dog on my streets, use our beaches, walk my pier, dog poops, dog and owner hop in car, drive away. Youd be surprised at how much of the litter comes not from these folks, but from the people just passing through OB on a regular day.
Wasn’t it local photog Jim Grant who took photos of some visitor woman letting her dog crap on the green and it took 2 lifeguards to set her straight?
I loved that pic! And they ticketed her too!
I agree all types of people can be rude. I speak from what I actually see and experince only. I just know when I walk the seawall or parking lot or newport blvd I see lots of street kids not picking up after fido….and dropping all kinds of trash….
No matter who you are you should be accountable in all areas of life.
If there are more kids then there would be more drug use because there’s more people using on the pier. It seems to me that there are more lately, but I can’t say that for certain. I do notice that the regular SDPD crime watch reports for OB show a spike in residential burglaries and assaults in the past 6 mos or so over what I’ve observed before then. But I, or someone, would have to go through those reports over the past, say 2 years, to document whether there is a real spike or it just appears that way. They tell us violent crime is down and property crime is up across the county and nationally. it would be interesting to see if violent crime is down in OB specifically or whether OB is an outlier in the citywide crime statistics.
I do find a lot of the young homeless in OB somewhat annoying (at least when the numbers are high). I don’t claim to know all their stories but, generally, I get the sense that most are perfectly healthy people living what they see as a romantic vagabond lifestyle with pot, dogs, boxed wine, friends and guitar because they don’t want to be restricted by society or whatever. I don’t know. I realize that’s quite a stereotype I’m suggesting. Whatever. If I’m right, I don’t object to the lifestyle necessarily. I’m just not going to support them financially.
If OBRag wanted to interview a good sample of these kids and write a story about it, I’d be interested. I’m certainly open to the possibility that I’m just completely wrong about them. Still not going to give them money or buy their beads.
I would be interested as well. When I first moved to San Diego and was living in the PB area I would on occasion interact (find out where from/how they got here/what they do etc) with the street kids/homeless population.
I follow the crime reports in the community, and I find it quite troubling to see how much goes on around here. When I posted the crime report for last week in OB on this board (The report included several assaults and crimes against property), the general response was one of acceptance and it taken light heartedly by some. I find that attitude absurd. It lacks community and social responsibility. In the past 3 years, I have had three invasions of my property while my family and I were present. I believe the “tolerant” philosophy of many so called community activists in OB has invited many of the problems that are proliferating here.
I considered myself an OB community activist and I see no reason to tolerant of any kind of crime. I say get out of my neighborhood (and better yet don’t even come close) if you are looking for trouble, cannot behave or be respectful.
I don’t “tolerate” crime in my neighborhood, but I also am not going to glue myself to police scanners and say “Oh gawd ain’t it awful!” every time the police have to respond to a crime. Don’t be so quick to call everyone absurd because we aren’t shocked and horrified that someone’s house got broken into or that there was a bar-fight and someone got their nose broken. We live in one of the country’s most populated cities. Crime will happen. That doesn’t mean we tolerate it. For my part, I clean up my block, paint out graffiti, pick up trash and make a point to personally know and look out for all of my neighbors. So don’t you dare tell me or some of the other “tolerant” community activists on this message board that we invite crime here. I just refuse to live a paranoid life reading police reports all day and wringing my hands over it.
^ bump.
JUST saw a 30 second teaser on 10 news…They are doing another story on OB tonight….more unsavory things going on in pubic…oopps public it seems !!! Seems like some OBecian caught a couple having a lil sex orgy in public and has it on tape……oopps ….momma would be proud.
Was it a couple having sex? Or an orgy? C’mon…inquiring minds want to know… lol
There’s a police trailer in the beach parking lot….isn’t that suppose to keep crime down? If it’s not working or used, please get rid of the ugliness.
I think it is just a storage facility.
Nope, it was “supposed” to be a scarecrow or police outpost according to the late 1999 issues of the Beacon but has become the OBMA’s hiding spot for the traffic officers to take a dump cause the sight of ’em on Newport is bad for business.
How are those bums down by the seawall ever gonna retire and truly live the good life?
The bums will always lose Lebowski. The bums will always lose.
Storage of what? Riot gear?
Debbie take, a tour along memory lane (to Labor Day 1999) It store’s the goodwill of the OBMA w/the visitors :>{p
Some of those street folks get quite inventive. I saw one sign that read, “I got a bowl with a hole, I need a nugget to plug it”…kinda hard not to smile at that!
I like to hang out on the seawall with my dogs (during the allotted hours of course) and watch the sunsets and I really don’t notice much, if any, drug use.
not sure they said sex orgy i beleive….wood it matter ? its on film, great two long hairs with dirty jeans going at it…..and you cant tell whos the man or whos the woman…just great …..
justmy2cents- Do you understand how you have undermined your own comments? “Whos the the man or whos the woman. …. just great.”
Hey! maybe it was two women with dirty jeans going at it.
Me thinks the lady doth protest too much. Yuck. I think you are one sick puppy.
Gee EditorDude, I thought we were showing restraint by not posting that XXX rated video a reader sent to us (the same one Channel 10 showed, almost “Live @ 5”)
This is an interesting issue, Patty. I think there is something ultimately prurient about releasing this video. The whole voyeuristic/ exhibitionist context leaves me utterly cold. Thanx to the OBrag for not putting it “out there.”
Why in the world would I want to watch this?????
Yeah if the video creeps us out , how much more so to have to be exposed to it. I am sure those families on the Cliffs are really upset about the conduct. The drugs and booze contribute greatly to this disgusting lewd conduct.The ” kids” who hang at the seawall and cliffs are totally outof control and have no respect for laws or other people. You would not engage in this if you were not high.
You know what creeps me out?? It creeps me out that a kid tells me with no affect about how somebody stuck a long needle through the screen and killed his hamster. It creeps me out that someone would break the legs of a dog and leave it in the alley. It creeps me out that someone beats the shit out of their wife on my block.
Two long hairs getting it on??????? Jesus.
Yeah those things you mention are not right either.
However I fail to see how they relate to the issue at hand. The actions at the cliffs seems to offend pretty much everyone in Ocean Beach and the City of San Diego . I was in South Beach Bar n Grille when it aired tonight people watching on the wide screen were pissed off, grossed out and upset that OB has low lifes like that. Nuff said.
Lets save the animal abuse or domestic issues for another time when they actually are relevant 10/4?
We saw the video because the woman who Channel 10 interviewed sent it to the OB Rag. We chose not to publish it – unlike Channel 10 who blocked out most of everything but showed it on evening news anyhow. Let me tell you – it was two guys and one woman having sex. But, hey get this: they were not young, dirty, panhandling, long-hairs – they were two fairly clean-cut guys probably in their 30s – working class stiffs smoking a joint while it all went down. So much for your stereotypes.
She kept filming and filming it for an entire minute, and then when they were finished, she yelled out something. She called what she sent us “Copy of Whore – Short Version” so she must have videotaped a lot longer than that.
maybe the filmer got off on the voyeuristic angle.
Gee Patty, maybe “Editor Dude” isn’t afraid to reveal the truth about OB or whats going on here? I find it rather odd that you choose to ignore the ‘situation’ and then rip on Editor Dude for supporting community members who are attempting to clean it up around here. Biased coverage much?
Gee Linda, you entirely missed the snark in my comment, I’m hardly rippin’ on EditorDude. EditorDude and I watched the uncensored version of that video and quite frankly there was no way we could post that thing, here on our site. Maybe channel 10 felt the need to show it, but we just didn’t.
A couple of points I want to make for those of you who didn’t get to see the whole thing (and I’m told we only saw the short version) is that the person who filmed it didn’t say anything to the fornicators until they were zipping it back up. Anna was that you that said something about voyeuristic? And the 2 men who were involved were not street kids. In fact, they looked like the average swinging dicks walking down any city street.
This kinda shit goes on all over. How come it only makes the news when there is a view involved?
yes, linda… things are kinda biased around here. but we try to be upfront about it. if you’d liked “unbiased” news, the Union-Tribune & Fox Spews are claiming that title. as to your truth, some of us have seen a lot of history here in OB and have a different perspective on it. anybody remember when “huffers” (toilene/glue sniffers) were the issue down by the wall?
we seen this all before and we’ll see it again.
I am just trying to figure out does that mean you condone the sex on the cliffs and related activities ?? Drinking until falling down drunk, drugs and all the crap that comes with drug use…..especially from people who have no means of support ..to get drugs they steal and resort to anything to get a joint…or a line.
Or are these things just a rite of passage ?
Jim G – these things have been happening at the OB Pier ever since it went up in 1966. Not trying to condone them, but trying to understand them and place them in a social, historical, and economic context. Some of these comments remind me of the views of los ricos in Les Miserables.
Molly’s right, jim g — no one is condoning illegal behavior, just pointing out that it’s nothing new, and in fact, is probably inevitable, given that the foot-of-Newport area is so damn cool. The beach stretches gloriously for nearly a mile, the temperature rarely drops below 60, the sun shines 300 days a year, a steady stream of people come and go, and all in a neighborhood known for being laid back, non-judgmental, even a little rebellious and counter-cultural. An area as awesome as this is going to attract all types of people, and not all of them are going to be on their best behavior all of the time.
As for the public sex (oh my god, sex!) I suppose it’s unfortunate, but again, an inevitable part of beach life, as people have been going to the beach to get it on for as long as people have been getting it on. Happens more often than you think. Could very well be happening right now. Get over it.
Actually, reminds me of a random night back in my PLHS years when my friend Bobby had a high-power flashlight that he could plug into his car’s cigarette lighter. We cruised all over the area with it, and when we got down to the beach, within 30 seconds of shining it to and fro, we spotlighted a couple going at it on the sand. We immediately killed the light and laughed our asses off – and then we moved on.
shane, now that you mention it, i can remember kids having sex in public on the beach in the middle of the day – not 200 yards north of the pier – when i was in junior high school at dana. and that was a few moons ago (try like 1962).
location, location, location, it IS an awesome spot! not that I condone that sort of thing ;)
uh, did anybody actually look at the video of people screwing on our beloved beach/cliffs? did those guys have long hair or look like they might be homeless? NO! in fact, in my opinion, they looked like French tourists. Quick! Let’s go lynch some Frenchie tourists…
Editordude, myself and Patty all witnessed the less than minute vid sent to us by the same person who Ch 10 interviewed and who gave them the vid. There is supposedly a longer original. The people in the vid having cliff sex were NOT long-hairred young people, but more like straight-looking, working stiffs and in their 30s. The woman – who we never got a good look at, could have been in her 20s. No body parts were ever visible in the version sent us. The 2 guys, one of whom was having oral sex, were smoking a J-bar, joint, whatever you want to call it.
Was he having oral, or receiving it? Semantics I guess….
I guess it brings new meaning to the term and popular drink ” Sex on the Beach”
People were shooting up in my laundry room. GROSS!
Point/ heavy drug use and alcohol will eventually kill!!!!!!!
Most of these cats are in thier teens and 20’s. And bullshit no community outreach. We have the bacon club where they do NA and AA meetings and beleive me, there are plenty of people in there that would be more than glad to help out only if they seek to better themselves. For the mental health cases/ bipolar/ schitzophrenia/ whatever!! the san diego mental health has doctors and truck loads of meds for these youngsters. And if they need a place to stay the san diego rescue mission or the salvation army is open doors.
Fact: these kids choose to bail on tightrope polotics, rules, regulations, etc….
Over the years I’ve seen quite a few trolls clean up and change so I don’t want to hear this crap we need to help…. Help is there if they choose it
Peace