During Wednesday’s night OB Town Council meeting, several people in the audience who live in the small cottages just to the south of the OB Pier had a singular complaint.
It was that a group of unhoused people have literally taken over the top of the pier and the area just under the pier and have set up habitation. However, their complaint wasn’t about homeless people per se but about this particular group who have “changed the dynamic of the pier” in that they have taken control over the two areas.
Residents no longer try to get on the pier or walk into the area. In fact, their complaint was that this group is preventing others from moving through the area or visiting the top of the pier at the locked gate.
These residents directed their complaint towards SDPD community relations officer Dave Surwilo because they said police come by but don’t interfere with this particular group. Surwilo answered that the PD Beach Team does go there, does issue citations to some of the individuals, and sometimes arrest some – but they “get right out and are back at it,” he said. He also called them a known “cast of characters.”
The residents also complained that some of the individuals are making dangerous inroads into the cliff just below the pier and about the Potta-Potty set up in the area.
On Thursday, Rag reporter Geoff Page took a look and took a photo. Geoff looked underneath the pier and could see that there weren’t any actual caves. He reported:
There’s a little series of foot paths, and a couple of flat spots they carved out under the deck in front of the abutment. Nothing major.
During the OBTC meeting, Surwilo offered that if there are new dangers, there maybe should be a meeting of all the city agencies involved to deal with these new issues of potential cave-ins or other dangers at the cliffs.
Just imagine the headlines if the pier falls down on top of these colorful
people who have taken possession of the spot.
What is the thinking of the various departments in the city who seem to think that this situation is perfectly okay?
Mayor Gloria should be thinking what President Truman said about his time in the Oval Office – “The Buck Stops Here”!
What do you think the city and Mayor should do about this?
/s/ Chris Kennedy
Maybe enforce the law. Camping is prohibited there regardless of shelter space, (although Todd Gloria says we always have beds available.). Enforce open container and possession laws, urinating in public, littering. And actually follow through with prosecuting. Anything less just emboldens more of this behavior.
Great comment, kh.
Does the city enforce the law elsewhere?
I don’t see this sort of anarchy up in LaJolla.
Or Pt. Loma.
Or Mission Bay Park.
Where will the thousands of cars bringing visitors to the new and grand new pier be parked?
A small, sturdy pier for morning walks and fishing and a cafe for breakfast and lunch would be better for the residents. The two hundred million dollars could be better spent elsewhere on homeless shelters and transportation rather than clog up the last beach town on the California coast with more cars.