SAN DIEGO
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Business owners both for and against beach drinking hosted dueling news conferences yesterday as they boost their campaigns in the weeks leading up to the Nov. 4 election.
Proposition D would make the current one-year alcohol ban at San Diego beaches and waterfront parks permanent as of Jan. 15. It's the latest battle between local residents who argue that the beach is safer without drinking and those who lament the loss of personal freedoms the law entails.
About 30 supporters of the measure gathered in Mission Beach to argue that business had improved in the 10 months since the temporary ban took effect, despite the troubled economy.
April Risk, general manager of a hotel on Pacific Beach Drive, said sales and occupancy are up 6 percent over last year and that guests at the hotel “don't want to check out early anymore” because of problems with beach drinkers.
An hour later, about 20 Proposition D opponents spoke out two miles away in Pacific Beach. Several complained of business losses that they attribute in part to the ban.
Boutique owner Madeleine Binnie said she will close her seven-year-old shop next month because she has fewer customers.
“If they can't do anything at the beach, they're not going to come,” Binnie said.
