Thursday, June 8, 2017

Thursday, June 8, 2017: Santa Monica Beach Trash Report

At 12 noon (approx.): How about a dead bird to highlight your day at the beach?...
Dateline: Thursday, June 8, 2017 at approximately 12 noon, I walked from the southern edge of the City of Santa Monica (at Lifeguard Tower #29) toward Ocean Park (at Lifeguard Tower #26) to have a look at the beach near the water's edge in terms of #beachtrash, dead birds and plant debris such as bamboo, tree branches, etc.

There remains a great deal of bamboo debris that the City of Santa Monica has yet to clean up and remove from the beach by hand.  The City continues to avoid this manual labor, hands on, effort that is required in order to remove this foreign debris from the beach and which continues to represent a significant danger to the general public's health and safety.

It would be a very simple matter for the City to have a team of its employees walk the water's edge and collect and remove this bamboo debris.  Instead, the beach going public must pay for beach parking and then have to endure sharing the beach with this dangerous debris which can cause puncture wounds that can get infected and perhaps leading to even staph infection.

This continuing failure by the City also represents a significant risk of liability.

Here are the photos I took today which show that the City has yet to remove the bamboo debris, as well as other plant debris near the water's edge and which the beach going public must traverse to get to and from the ocean.



















Below, if the City was careful and responsible, it would pick up plant debris such as the large tree branch below. Instead it remains there day after day after day.....

This is also the area where the Junior Lifeguards set up and train starting in two weeks time.  Question: Is the City going to clean up this beach of this dangerous foreign plant debris before the kids show up to run and swim?  Does the City care about their health and safety?  Let's hope so!  Time will tell.....






*** Dead Bird Alert ! ***

IF the City actually inspected the beach daily near the water's edge, dead birds would be collected and removed from the beach... or so we hope.




This plant debris above and below is a danger to the general public that visit the beach and walk in their bare feet across the sand.  The City apparently does not care, however, about this debris. The City does care very much about collecting parking revenues, however, and which continues uninterrupted.











Below, a family arrives to enjoy a day at the beach despite the June Gloom. They've just paid for parking and now they are about to see how filthy and full of plant debris this area of the beach near the shoreline is.  Welcome to Santa Monica Beach!...


This plant debris above and below should not be left on the beach uncollected by the City of Santa Monica.  This is not the way this beach is expected to be maintained by either the general public or, hopefully, by the State of California (Calif. State Parks), which has an Operating Agreement with the City of Santa Monica whereby the City is supposed to maintain the beach.  Two Questions for our readership: Does this beach by the water's edge look like it is well maintained by the City of Santa Monica?  Is this beach free of dangerous plant debris, esp. sharp pieces of bamboo, which can cause painful foot injuries leading to infection?


*** Video Alert ! ***

Ocean Park Beach Debris: The Video

     https://youtu.be/oJEG4FtlqC8


Two groups above and below with children playing in the sand amidst all of this plant debris, including sharp pieces of bamboo.



So here we are now at Ocean Park, one of the crown jewel beaches in Santa Monica and this is how the City maintains it!  The fact of the matter is that the City sanitation dept. is not inclined to have its staff pick up and remove this plant debris even though it represents a health and safety risk to the general public.

If and when someone gets hurt and their foot gets infected, you can bet your bottom dollar that the City is going to be on the hook for, at minimum, negligence.  Since the City is on notice, however, of this continuing failure to clean the beach, it is much more likely that a court of law will find gross negligence, if not wilful conduct, leading to punitive damages.  That's my opinion anyways as an attorney and having lifeguarded along this stretch of beach since 1974.







The City of Santa Monica continues to disappoint because having a safe and clean beach is obviously not a priority. Meanwhile, it is spotless at Tongva Park and the grounds surrounding City Hall.  Go figure!...

Respectfully submitted,

William Maguire,
Santa Monica business owner

(All photos and video by & Copyright William Maguire 2017.)

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