City law easier to enforce in court, SM police say
The bluffs below Palisades Park, a popular sleeping place for transients, will soon be off limits by city law.
The Santa Monica City Council tonight is expected to pass a law forbidding any person to be present on the bluffs.
Citing public safety concerns, City Attorney Marsha Moutrie has recommended to the council that it pass the law, which will be enforced by the Santa Monica Police Department.
The bluff is a steep, deeply eroded and unstable area that expands about one and half miles above the Pacific Coast Highway and below Palisades Park. The bluffs’ height varies in height from 50 feet to 180 feet and is accessible from the PCH or the park.
“There is a concern for not only erosion on the bluff but also for people’s safety,” said Mayor Richard Bloom. “I know there are people who use it. There is obvious safety issues there. People who are hiking through there or sitting or sleeping there constitutes a hazard to them.
“The city has a responsibility to look out for the health and safety for everybody in the community.”
Several tunnels, caves and shelves along the bluffs are used by transients to store belongings and to sleep. Not only is not safe to be there because the rock is unstable and is subject to slides, but the area is frequently littered with trash.
The dense brush on the bluffs also pose a fire hazard because flames could spread quickly due to normal wind conditions and the steep slope, city staff said. The embers could blow onto Palisades Park and onto the roofs of buildings across Ocean Avenue, officials said.
When a slide occurs, whatever earth, rocks and debris slide down the bluff likely would land on the PCH, which is heavily used by fast-moving vehicles, officials said.
Over the years, the city has made efforts to keep people off of the bluffs with a fence that extends the length of the park, between the Santa Monica Pier and northern city border, where it becomes Pacific Palisades Bluff.
There also are signs posted saying to keep out of the area, as well as stairways and pedestrian overpasses leading to the beach that allow beach access. But people still use the area, endangering themselves and motorists below, city staff said. The steep terrain also makes it difficult for emergency workers to reach people on the bluff. If police had to enter the area, officers would have to repel down using climbing gear, said Santa Monica Police Department Lt. Frank Fabrega.
A state trespassing law already prohibits people from entering the area but it’s extremely broad.
“A municipal code is easier to enforce in a court of law,” Fabrega said. “A lot of these penal codes are broad based and sometimes we need the ordinance to be more narrow.”
You can just hang out in the road way because its unsafe.
Staff believes it’s necessary.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on May 20, 2003. Read the original PDF.