San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
BIG CROWDS BRING BIG PROBLEMS AT MISSION BAY PARK
City struggles with gunfire incidents, fires, trash, graffiti
Huge crowds in Mission Bay Park during the COVID-19 pandemic have brought more trash, graffiti, illegal fires, traffic jams and other problems to the 4,000acre aquatic park.
Park rangers say they’ve also been dealing with people breaking into closed-off playgrounds and participating in unauthorized volleyball games. Police say incidents of gunfire near the park’s roller coaster also are on the rise.
“We are getting a lot more people than normal — every single weekend is like a holiday weekend, like the Fourth of July,” senior park ranger Karolynn Estrada told the Mission Bay Park Committee
this week.
The crowds are putting pressure on the lifeguards, four park rangers and four teams of police officers assigned to the park.
“We are very outnumbered,” Estrada said. “Because of COVID, a lot of places are closed, so everybody is heading down to the beach.”
With an actual holiday weekend arriving, police are boosting their capacity over Labor Day weekend, including more parking enforcement officers and specialevent traffic controllers.
Councilwoman Dr. Jennifer Campbell, whose district includes the park, urged visitors on Friday to be good stewards of the park and to behave responsibly.
Huge crowds in Mission Bay Park during the COVID-19 pandemic have brought more trash, graffiti, illegal fires, traffic jams and other problems to the 4,000acre aquatic park.
Park rangers say they’ve also been dealing with people breaking into closed-off playgrounds and participating in unauthorized volleyball games. Police say incidents of gunfire near the park’s roller coaster also are on the rise.
“We are getting a lot more people than normal — every single weekend is like a holiday weekend, like the Fourth of July,” senior park ranger Karolynn Estrada told the Mission Bay Park Committee this week.
The crowds are putting pressure on the lifeguards, four park rangers and four teams of police officers assigned to the park.
“We are very outnumbered,” Estrada said. “Because of COVID, a lot of places are closed, so everybody is heading down to the beach.”
With an actual holiday weekend arriving, police are boosting their capacity over Labor Day weekend, including more parking enforcement officers and specialevent traffic controllers.
Councilwoman Dr. Jennifer Campbell, whose district includes the park, urged visitors on Friday to be good stewards of the park and to behave responsibly.
That includes not violating the park’s alcohol ban, properly disposing of trash and recycling, wearing masks when appropriate and not lighting illegal bonfires, she said.
“We’re all in this together and by doing the right thing, we can protect ourselves and our neighbors,” Campbell said in a news release.
Estrada said excessive trash on Fiesta Island and elsewhere in the park has become a major problem.
“Most people are having their get-togethers, leaving and not picking up,” she said, noting that most of the park’s trash cans aren’t full each morning, but trash is still strewn about. “It boils down to people not caring about the environment, unfortunately.”
There have also been illegal fires started outside of city-approved fire rings, including some at nighttime parties in Crown Point Park that have prompted complaints from nearby residents.
Another problem is people breaking through orange fencing around the 22 tot lots spread throughout the sprawling park. The lots haven’t reopened under county health orders during the pandemic.
“It’s an ongoing thing,” Estrada said, adding that her team is constantly recreating fencing after it is torn down. “We will put it up — we will spend that two hours — and within 15 minutes somebody will come by, shred it and throw it in the trash.”
Estrada said the city has also gotten complaints about large volleyball games on Riviera Drive in Crown Point, where players are not practicing social distancing or wearing masks.
“It’s hard to prove they aren’t all part of the same household,” she said.
Another problem is recreational vehicles, particularly a cluster parked along East Mission Bay Drive near the San Diego Mission Bay Resort, in the park’s southeast corner.
The city’s suspension of most parking laws during the pandemic prevents police from cracking down on the RVS, said Brandon Broaddus, a community resource officer.
Police are also struggling with a sharp increase in guns being fired in the south parking lot of Belmont Park near the ocean, Broaddus said.
“We’ve chased people. We’ve taken guns away.
We’ve actually had one person shot,” he said.
Councilwoman Campbell said her staff is working with the operator of Belmont Park to solve the problem.
“Whether it’s more security, closing the parking lot at night or other plans that can be implemented by our emergency personnel, I support any opportunity that will make a meaningful impact to keep residents and guests in Mission Beach safe,” she said.
Broaddus said another new problem has been excessive crowds leaving Fiesta Island each evening. He estimated it takes police more than two hours to clear the island each day.
Broaddus said a potential solution could be limiting the number of vehicles allowed onto the island each day, suggesting the traffic congestion could delay emergency responses to the area.
While police and rangers say they have been somewhat overwhelmed by the larger crowds, they have been writing citations and issuing warnings.
More than 235 parking tickets were issued between May and August, including 157 on one day near Ski Beach. In addition, 13 people have been issued a “notice to appear” for alcohol use, dog violations, driving on beaches and other transgressions.
The city also recently revived its 11-year-old “community court” program, which was suspended during the early part of the pandemic. Violators can avoid paying fines if they pay a $40 fee, attend a seminar about park rules and complete four hours of community service.
Since the program was revived, the community service portion has been eliminated because of the pandemic. Since the revival in early June, 394 people have completed community court and upcoming seminars are booked through the end of October.