San Diego Fails Again

So, 19 months ago the City Council enacted a ban on the consumption of alchoholic beverages on all city beaches based on what they considered out of control and unsafe behavior a grand total of 3 days out of the year. Memorial Day, The 4th of July and Labor Day, to be precise. Now, the true motivation for the ban will likely never be clearly known, but I believe it is safe to say that it was bought and paid for by someone. The police chief even said the department didn't support banning booze on the beach before having an "inexplicable" change of heart after a closed door meeting with the council. As a result of the ban, some people decided to start throwing events called Floatopias, where thousands would get together and float on rafts in the bay and drink where the ban did not extend. To date, their have been approximately 5 of these events. The City Council, either because they feel their authority is being flouted, or for some other reason (again I do not believe things like public safety motivate these politicians) set their sights on these events. They clogged the beaches with police and lifeguards to trump up the costs to taxpayers and then reported massive garbage tsunamis (which there is not one news photo of, despite a major news presence) and cited hundreds of water rescues (not one of which was reported in the news). Yesterday, they banned these events in an "emergency" session. Whether you believe that these events and overall drinking on the beach was a problem during these few days a year or not, doesn't it seem like there should have been a whole lot of room for compromise in there? It's sad that I can't have a couple of beers on the beach on a sunny day while tossing some horseshoes and listening to a ballgame on the radio, with my friends. And it's a shame that so few people see this for what it really is: Another infringement on our liberty.