Lifeguards wade in on doggie debate
CITY HALL — Elected officials here want to change state law in order to allow for a dog beach that could be located on a stretch of sand south of Wilshire Boulevard.
The City Council tonight will consider whether or not to support a bill in Sacramento that would allow proponents of leash-free dog beaches to set aside an area at Dockweiler Beach for man’s best friend to run free. The council has drafted a resolution calling for the bill to be amended so that Santa Monica State Beach is included.
California State Parks, which owns the beach here, prohibits dog beaches. The City Council last year instructed staff to work with state officials in authorizing a dog beach pilot program. Those efforts have been unsuccessful, according to city staff.
“We are hoping so much that it will pass,” said Georja Umano Jones, president of Unleash the Beach, a non-profit organization dedicated to creating a dog beach in Santa Monica. “Most of us live here because we love the beach. We also love our dogs and consider them a part of our family, but we are not allowed to take them to the beach … I used to walk on the beach all the time before I got my dog, but now I almost never do because I can’t just leave my dog at home.”
Jones, who has been fighting for a dog beach for years, said she and others have had to drive to Long Beach or Huntington Beach, cities that have created off-the-leash dog beaches.
Opponents of Unleash the Beach’s proposal said they will ask the City Council to vote against supporting the dog beach bill, AB 359, which has lingered in the state Senate, where it is currently awaiting action in the Natural Resources and Water Committee.
“We are concerned about a variety of issues, but the most pressing of which has to do with protecting the health of the bay,” said Alan Reed, chair of the Surfrider Foundation, Malibu Chapter, which covers the Ballona wetlands up to the northern Los Angeles County border. “We’re also concerned about enforcement. If there are no fences to keep the dogs in, who is going to protect against them running wild?
“We are not anti-dog,” Reed added. “Many of our members are avid dog owners, but there are just some basic environmental and safety issues that have to be addressed.”
LA County lifeguards are opposed to dog beaches because they do not want to be responsible for policing the dogs and their owners when it is their primary job to protect swimmers. Dog poop can also cause a problem, lifeguards said.
As it is currently written, AB 359 would authorize the Department of Parks and Recreation, the Coastal Commission and the county and city of Los Angeles to develop a one-year, off-leash dog beach at Dockweiler.
The bill calls for all costs associated with it to be paid for by private sources and that funding be available before any costs are incurred. Those interested will have to report to the Legislature on the evaluation of the program within six months of its conclusion.
The bill includes several criteria for evaluation and includes language that protects the state, commissions, county and city of Los Angeles from any liability. The bill also includes a provision that prohibits the creation of the dog beach on any part of the coast that is home to an endangered species, such as the Snowy Plover, which nests at Dockweiler.
Supporters of the bill said other cities have opened dog beaches and they have had no problems keeping the area clean, nor have there been any problems with beachgoers coming into contact with dogs off their leashes.
The Long Beach Dog Zone is about three acres of beach marked off by cones and in the area nearest to the water. It has specific hourly and seasonal operational times.
Supporters said since there are 175,000 licensed dog owners in the county and only one dog beach (Long Beach), they feel they are being underserved.
“If they would just let us use a part of the beach … that is currently called the desert, and is pretty much abandoned most of the year, we would do fundraising to pay for not only the cleaning of a nearby storm drain, but also the cleaning of the beach,” Jones said. “We already have 100 volunteers who have promised to clean and monitor the beach for one hour each week. We feel we are responsible enough to handle this. We want it very badly.
“There are thousands of us who want it and are willing to take care of it if we are given the opportunity.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 28, 2006. Read the original PDF.