There are few things more serene than a night under the stars, listening to rolling waves crash against the sand. But that’s been an impossibility at Los Angeles city beaches as of late, thanks to renewed enforcement of a 27-year-old overnight beach ban. Now, a group of Venice Beach activists are suing the city in an effort to get the curfew overturned once and for all.
“The beaches are for the public,” said Francesca de la Rosa, one of the plaintiffs in the case. Wednesday’s suit echoed that sentiment, declaring that “an individual's right to unobstructed access to the ocean, beaches and waterways has been recognized since the ancient laws of the Roman Empire.”
The plaintiffs further contend that the city had no right to adopt the midnight-to-5-a.m. curfew in the first place, given the California Coastal Commission’s jurisdiction over the shoreline. The law did catch the attention of the Commission in 2010, and the agency claims that the city is in violation of the Coastal Act.
The law was adopted in 1989 but wasn’t strictly enforced until several years ago when concerns over homelessness reached new heights. Mark Ryavec, president of the Venice Stakeholders Assn., is convinced that a lifting of the ban would attract further crime and transiency to the area.
Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer has not commented on the suit.
Read more about the lawsuit here.
Image Credit: Flickr User kittysfotos, https://flic.kr/p/ayyadr via (CC BY 2.0)