There’s trouble at Paradise Cove, which has been a train wreck for the past few weekends, as it is every summer. Bad stuff is getting worse – too many people trying to get in, gridlock on Pacific Coast Highway, where visitors are trying to make a left turn even though the sign says “full,” and big boozing and fights on the sand (photos are easy to find on Facebook).
When I was a Public Safety Commissioner (I think I got booted off either because I was a trouble maker or I voted for the wrong people), we spoke of the mess at Paradise Cove far too often without a resolution. Many meetings have been held with the restaurant’s management, and nothing has changed. In fact, it is worse.
How about a DUI checkpoint about 7 p.m. on Saturday right outside on PCH? It’s never going to happen, folks, because residents complained when the one at Webb Way and PCH backed up traffic one lovely evening in 2011. So our city manager, bowing to the resident idiots who did not want us to catch drunks and bad guys, moved the checkpoint to a side street. The number of bad guys caught dropped precipitously, and our grant was not renewed because the numbers were too low compared to other cities (that did get the grants). Scrambling to cover the loss, our city manager and the sheriff’s department cobbled together another grant that would include some DUI checkpoints and education; there was an emergency signing at one of our public safety commission meetings, but darned if I can find those particular commission minutes.
Checking on the city website, I see that there was an item on the June 2012 Public Safety Commission agenda about a meeting with “Paradise Cove Mobilehome Park and Paradise Cove Beach Cafe regarding remedies for safety issues at those locations.” The minutes have not been posted yet, but from my vantage point, it did not make even a tiny difference.
So, what do you think the city should do about the Paradise Cove problems?
Susan M. Tellem