By Geoff Page
On Monday, August 19, Channel 5 Fox News did a story on, well, signs. A person might wonder why a news station would do a story about signs. Fox was not motivated by a tip about a fascinating, untold sign story. Fox was showing how this city’s administration works by doing the city’s bidding.
The story was about new signs the city posted on the pier. A little background first.
The Rag carried a piece on these signs July 31.
In that story, this writer related telling the lifeguards about the missing sign on the pier, warning surfers to stay 75 feet away from the pier, that had been there for decades. Not trusting the lackluster reaction from the local lifeguards, the following email was sent a week later, on August 8, to the lifeguard management.
One week ago, I took a high-powered telescope and looked up and down the length of the OB Pier searching for the sign that has been there forever telling people to stay 75 feet away from the pier. The sign is gone.
I stopped by the main guard tower to advise two lifeguards sitting outside. I received what can only be described as a less than enthusiastic response from the two men, one of whom told me he was in charge that day.
I told them that the city was telling the public that there was a sign informing people to stay 75 feet away from the pier as a warning because of the pier damage. So, the sign needed replacing quickly.
The man in charge said, “There’s a process” when I pressed him on the urgency.
So, I want to know if he did start the “process.” Has the lifeguard service informed the city of the missing sign?
On August 11, a response came from a lifeguard sergeant named Mason DeRieux.
Thank you for your safety concern regarding the Ocean Beach Pier. Signs have been placed at the entrance of the pier and on the railing facing north and south to notify the beach crowd of the San Diego municipal code.
I believe the sign you are referring to is the old one located just beyond sub-pump station. The white painted sign was placed many years ago prior towards damage to align with San Diego Municipal Fishing piers to prevent entanglement with surfers and fisherman. It was covered up three years ago when they repaired the pier railing.
There are also signs placed at the foot of Niagara which the city installed near the gate which also shows the development proposal. We have been engaged with City Engineers throughout their management of the pier damage. After they completed their damage in the assessment in the spring, Lifeguards escorted city crews to install signs. As of 8/11/2024 all post-damage signage is still in place.
The second line came as a surprise, that signs were in place. As of the August 8 email to the lifeguards, no signs were there. The second item that catches the eye is where DeRieux explains that the old sign was covered up three years ago after some repairs. And never replaced.
After getting the email, a trip to the pier was made to see what signs DeRieux was referring to. There were new signs, here are the pictures. The first one shows what is on the signs, the same thing that was on the old sign. The next two pictures show where the signs are, about 10 feet inside the locked gate.
The reply to DeRieux:
Thank you for the response.
You wrote, “Signs have been placed at the entrance of the pier and on the railing facing north and south to notify the beach crowd of the San Diego municipal code.”
I just took a look at the new signs. I hardly know what to say. The signs were placed just inside the locked gates, above the sand. No one who is swimming, surfing, or skin diving will see the signs where they are. The signs should have been placed out over the water where the old sign was. Maybe waders will see the signs but no one is fishing in water shallow enough to wade in.
But, even more discouraging is that the signs say nothing of the dangers from debris falling off the pier or the broken pile under the water. All these signs say are what they have said for many years and they say nothing of why people need to stay away. The reason for the signs was originally because of conflicts with fishing lines but that is not the main concern now.
Yes, I was referring to the old sign that said the same thing as these new ones. That the city covered it up and never replaced it is a travesty.
You said the lifeguards escorted the city to install the signs. You wrote, “As of 8/11/2024 all post-damage signage is still in place.” When were these signs placed? I have pictures dated July 26 that do not show those signs. Were they placed on Sunday 8-11-24?
Seems there was such a hurry, we paid city workers double time to put up a couple of cheap signs. DeRieux was not through.
City Engineers have done a thorough damage assessment to relay guidelines on access for city workers and lifeguards. Upon completion of the damage assessment they have composed a draft memo outlining their findings and access restrictions of the Ocean Beach Pier. After reviewing the memo, the structural integrity at the base of the pier through a good distance out past the surf line is actually still rated for a half ton truck to be driven on. There has been no indication per the report that the beach area under the pier and the immediate area frequented by surfers is at imminent risk of collapse. Per the draft memo the area severely compromised is the area around the Café well beyond the area where people are frequenting the water.
This information influenced lifeguard operations to allow surfer to still surf “Rip Tide Right” and beach patrons to transit the area underneath it. To provide insight on our operation we do not allow simmers next to the Ocean Beach Pier because it is a 24 hour surf zone and it is prohibited for vessels to drive underneath the Ocean Beach Pier. I apologize for your disproval of the signs. I will check in with my point of contact at City Engineering and confirm that the signage is appropriate to address any public risk.
The new sings were installed on 8-11-24. I believe it was ten working days since the original concern was forwarded to the Park and Rec department.
Although Derieux mentioned the “draft memo outlining their findings and access restrictions of the Ocean Beach Pier, he was apparently unfamiliar with what it contained. Hence the reply.
Mr. DeRieux,
The draft memo that you described, on page 3 of the Recommendations, shows this:
I have lived in OB for 44 years, I am aware that swimming is not allowed next to the pier and that vessels of some size are not allowed to go through the pier. However, small craft, paddle boards, kayaks, and rafts can do that and could do it before the lifeguards could do anything. Surfers could encounter the area during large surf and low tide.
The recommendations for signs were made in April of this year
It was only after I did a bit of research that I discovered Mr. DeRieux was the same lifeguard at the OB station who showed such indifference to the information reported to him about the missing sign.
Fox News Story – 8-19-24
And now, the Fox news story. Here is what all Fox got wrong.
“The city implemented a 75-foot perimeter for swimmers and beachgoers around the pier due to falling debris earlier this year. At the time, video showed bits of the pier being swept away into high surf.”
The city did not implement anything, they just put up signs with a long-standing Municipal Code on them “implemented” many, many years ago to keep surfers and people fishing out of trouble. The signs say nothing about falling debris or bits of the pier “being swept away” in the water.
75-foot “perimeter?”
The signs were just put up, they were not put up earlier this year.
The actual news video shows that the reporter has no idea what the reporter is looking at. The camera pans to the very, very flat ocean with seven surfers trying to catch ankle biters. The reporter says, “It looks like they are abiding by the warning because the warning sign is telling people to stay at least 75 feet away from the pier…” “And if you see where the surfers are in proximity to the pier,” the reporter said as the reporter looked out on the water.
There was no surf to speak of and nothing close to the pier. A handful of surfers on a Monday morning. The space the reporter saw had absolutely nothing to do with the new signs, which no one could have read from where they were in the water anyway. That the reporter believed the signs were having an effect is laughable.
Probably the best indication of how lousy this news story was could be heard in one of the reporter last remarks as the camera panned the old pier:
“Obviously construction of the new pier hasn’t happened yet…”
Why did Fox decide to go out and do a story on signs that were placed a week earlier? Someone at the city wanted to toot the city’s horn with a positive story about the city and its “concern” for public safety. Maybe they wanted to counter the negative publicity coming from The OB Rag?
Fox obliged the city with this promotional story. But if the city was planning to pay them for this story, the taxpayers, once again, did not get their money’s worth.
Geoff, I know you don’t surf much nowadays except for on the internet but we would appreciate it as surfers if you did not take away a surf spot from us before it is absolutely necessary.
The signs are up, hopefully that releases the City from liability, and we will continue to surf southside, through, and northside next to the pier before it is demolished and the entire spot is taken away from us for who knows how long.
Thanks!
You lost me, Greg. How do you know my surfing habits, do I know you? And, how, pray tell, am I taking a surf spot away from you? I never saw a surfer, myself included, who ever paid attention to that sign. So, what is the problem?
What are you trying to accomplish if not having people abide by the municipal code that would make it unlawful for people to surf within 75 feet of the pier? Just ensure there is adequate signage that we can hopefully continue to choose to ignore? That is of course assuming that the pressure you are putting on the lifeguards/city does not result in them actively enforcing it after all these years.
I think you may be coming into this in the middle.
The signage that is needed is the signage the city was telling everyone was there, crowing that they had fulfilled a responsibility to warn people about the pier. That was a lie. There was no sign. The old one was long gone. And, it would not have had information about the current pier anyway because that sign was decades old.
The city’s responsibility is to put up signage about the possibility of debris falling off the condemned pier, where it is needed. It is needed over the sand because of foot traffic traffic under the pier, but frankly, that would be insufficient anyway. The city needs to either ban walking under the pier or shore up the underside of the deck.
Signage is needed where people in the water can see it. Signage is also needed where the piling broke, as recommended by the city’s paid consultant.
This is a recommendation in the consultant’s April 17, 2024 memorandum to the city angered me:
“Pile 45:B stub – The disposition of the remnant of this pile should be determined. The pile is either laying on the ocean floor, or it remains projecting upward in some fashion so as to be a threat to surfers,
swimmers or vessels operating adjacent to the pier. Vessels are expected to be operating to perform geophysical and biological surveys in the relatively near future. An engineer-diver, commercial diver, or a lifeguard dive crew should determine the current status. This could lead to the need for demolition and
partial removal of the pile stub.”
So, no one has made the dive to inspect the pile wreckage. If you saw it when it first broke, it was a stub above the water before that also broke and disappeared. The stub was ugly, broken concrete and rebar reaching skyward and sideways. Imagine that lurking below the water line now.
No, this effort is about getting the city to do its basic job.
That collapsed/broken piling being a submerged hazard as you describe sounds like a huge personal injury liability to any unsuspecting surfers in the area. I would go so far as saying that its irresponsible for more experienced surfers to continue surfing near it because it gives the impression to younger less experienced surfers that its safe to do so. Please, we cant stop you from taking risks but make sure everyone knows whats under there. If someone were seriously injured there it will not benefit anyone.