The city of San Diego announced Wednesday, Nov. 22, that it will keep the Ocean Beach Pier closed through early next year as a result of recent damage and the potential for additional impairment during the upcoming storm season.
San Diego lifeguards closed the pier Nov. 20 as a precaution during high surf, said city spokesman Jose Ysea.
“While it was closed, the pier incurred surface damage and has remained closed since,” Ysea said. “Once the storm season has passed, the city will reassess and determine the next steps.”
The pier also was closed Oct. 20 amid concern about high surf.
Last Thursday, I emailed Khota Zaiser, the mayor’s rep, the District 2 rep, and a person at Parks and Rec asking why the pier was closed. The only response was from the Parks and Rec guy, an automatic email explaining that he had retired and offering a new contact. I emailed that person, no response.
On Monday, I emailed the three people on the city’s website that manage the Parks Department. I got an immediate response from Andy Field, the department director, who immediately tossed the request to five people in the city’s goddamn communications department to answer. Here was the response:
“Thanks for reaching out. San Diego Lifeguards closed the Ocean Beach Pier on Friday, Oct. 20, as a precaution during high surf conditions. While it was closed, the pier suffered some damage and remains closed. The City is working to assess the damage and will have more information regarding the pier’s status soon.”
Nothing. The pier has been closed for 31 days. What work do they need to do to assess damage, 31 days was not enough?
Today, I see all over the news that the city made a press release early this morning. No responses to my emails from the city.
I told the city that I swept the pier with some high-powered binoculars and did not see any surface damage. I guess we will need some drone footage to be sure about that. But, why is there no detailed information about the damage in the city’s information?
Closing the pier because the city doesn’t want to repair some railing is a stark illustration why the pier got in the condition it is in. Replacing railing is MAINTENANCE, something the city failed miserably to do in the last 30 years. There should be plenty of money, from what the city saved letting the pier rot, to fix some railing.
Unless the city can identify structural damage, there is no need to close the pier until next spring, absolutely none. The several engineering reports on the pier going back years all contained the following recommendation abut when to close the pier:
1. In order to minimize the wave loads, the pier should be closed to the public when sea levels (including wave crests) encroach with [sic] 2-feet of any pile caps. To aid in this determination, it is recommended that marks be placed on pile caps as visual reference.
Two feet from a pile cap is a bit misleading. The pile caps are 2.5 feet tall and are topped by a 1.5 foot thick prestressed slab. That means the closures would come when the wave crests are six feet from the top of the deck. The recommended marks were never made.
They pier does not need to be closed, the city lifeguards just need to monitor the water height and close it only when necessary. And, to do that, the city needs to make the marks recommended long ago. We all need to hammer the city and get the pier open when it can be open.