Council committee wants 24/7 ban on alcohol at Kate Sessions Park

City News Service

Alcohol would be banned around the clock at Kate Sessions Memorial Park in Pacific Beach under an ordinance endorsed Wednesday by a San Diego City Council committee.

The Natural Resources and Culture Committee voted unanimously to direct the City Attorney’s Office to draft an ordinance to ban booze from the park. The measure will be considered by the full City Council within the next 30

days.

Committee members rejected a compromise proposal to allow the consumption of alcoholic beverages at the park on weekdays from noon to 8 p.m., opting instead to seek a complete prohibition.

More than a dozen of members of the surrounding community testified that since San Diego enacted a beach alcohol ban, the partying has moved into Kate Sessions Park.

Eve Anderson said the park is being “overrun” by revelers and pleaded with the committee to “please give us our park back.”

Only one speaker went to the podium to oppose banning alcohol at the park.

Nearly 4,000 people partied at Kate Sessions Park on the Fourth of July this year, according to police. The partying has led to complaints of public urination, trash and noise.

It’s not the first time the city has had to deal with spillover stemming from a public vote to ban alcohol at all city beaches in 2008.

In July, the City Council voted to close a loophole in the beach alcohol prohibition that allowed revelers to imbibe while floating on rafts and other devices just offshore. The move brought an end to the booze-soaked

“Floatopia” parties that drew thousands to Mission Bay.