EDITOR’S NOTE: This article has been corrected. The City of Oceanside has not made a decision whether it will reopen its beaches.
ENCINITAS — Monday’s potential opening of Moonlight Beach will be considered by the Encinitas City Council at a special meeting today at 4 p.m., according to a draft proposal released by the city.
The special meeting will occur two days after the city announced on Friday it would begin Phase 1 and reopen its beaches for limited public use on April 27. According to city officials, the decision was made in response to the San Diego County Health Department’s surprise announcement that ocean activities would be allowed starting at sunrise on Monday.
“The cities did not get any warning regarding the announcement,” officials said. “The initial strategy was to have a collaborative approach across the region. The county’s unilateral action caught most cities off guard
and the collaborative, uniform beach opening across the region will not be happening on Monday, April 27.”
Despite the county’s announcement, several North County coastal cities, including Carlsbad, Solana Beach and Del Mar, have elected to keep their beaches closed until further notice. Oceanside has yet to make a decision whether it will reopen its beaches.
According to a draft proposal released by the City of Encinitas, the beach would open at 8:00 a.m. on Monday and all entrances that are at least 6 feet wide would open, but all other beach access points would be closed.
In Phase 1 of the draft proposal, all water activity, including swimming, surfing, paddling and kayaking would be allowed. Walking or running on the beach would also be allowed.
“No gatherings of any kind on the beaches,” the draft states. “No stopping, standing, sitting or lying down and no chairs, blankets, coolers or anything stationary. No games or sports on the beach.”
All beach parking lots will be closed and parking on Coast Highway will be prohibited, the draft said.
“Law enforcement will closely monitor adherence to the County of San Diego Public Health order prohibiting gatherings.”
In Phase 2, an intermediate phase with no date to begin scheduled, the entire beach would be opened to all activity without restrictions.
Three people were arrested and cited at Moonlight Beach on Saturday for violating the stay-home order and congregating on a closed beach, according to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department.
The arrests took place during a protest rally against beach closures and the stay-home order.
5 comments
“The government” has a responsibility to protect public health during a lethal pandemic. Unwrap yourself from our flag, you condescending fool. See above, last two paragraphs. It’s about you.
Please explain to me how allowing people to exercise on trails and in the water increases the spread of COVID? Time to step back from the hysteria and trolling and make cost benefit analysis of all the decisions being made.
If you’re in an at risk group or simply scared of the virus, do everyone a favor and stay at home. If you understand that freedom comes with certain risks and responsibilities then you should be able to make the choice that is best for you and your family. Not the government
Social distancing is completely intact with beaches open. Grocery stores and other public places are far more in violation than this phase 1 protocol opening!
HS educated trust fund children, gather round the hearth… The fact that people are allowed to buy food and often or sometimes violate the distancing orders while doing so does not give you a green light to gather and bullshit, spreading this disease with your friends thereby, as is your daily ritual and want wherever and whenever possible.
If people behaved perfectly, no problem. Far better that we exercise and get in the water. Agreed.
That said, let’s disabuse ourselves from that false reality and cut to the bottom line: people will gather and spread the disease wherever and whenever allowed, and community spread will continue.
Police will look away from enforcement, and are likely close to formally joining the protests, refusing to ticket, as reported in TX.
The position of so many wealthy white Republican trust fund brat protester/self-righteous bitch/whiners is that the vast majority of people dutifully complying with social distancing are in some way wrong to do so…. that they are victims of a hoax, overreacting, behaving out of a false sense of fear, have made a bad choice but should stay home if they “feel that way” and that they (the self-righteous brats) are wiser and more freedom loving.
Let us all remember who among us did the hard work of the temporary cessation of our normal lives to fight this, and who these self-righteous flag waving Republican bitches are who worked against everyone else in that fight because like Crista Curtis they wanted to go get their fucking hair and nails done, and had the temerity to insult those people doing the right thing by not mixing in society.
The Mayor caved from political pressure and the absence of a legitimate and professional police department. With the decision to reopen prematurely, Encinitas undermines and negates the efforts of its neighbors to drive down the spread of Covid-19. She failed to implement the County order for days, then reopened asap. Georgia, basically.
Politics and not science, not coordination drives this Mayor, and this is shameful and deeply unethical. You must not be the weak link in the chain of beaches, as we have decided to be. She allows it in part because she knows her town is loaded with selfish white wealthy republican trust fund brats who will do whatever they want, and the Sheriffs Dept will not deliver meaningful enforcement of any such rules.
She’s in a tough spot, but the bottom line is coordination, consultation, and communication with your neighbor cities.
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