Why Long Beach lifted its boardwalk alcohol sales ban

The Long Beach City Council unanimously voted Tuesday evening to allow alcohol sales at businesses on the city’s boardwalk, capping the most recent effort to lift a booze ban after a similar proposal was shot down in 2017.

The rules now stricken from the city's code clashed with state law and had gone unenforced for more than a decade, according to City Council President Brendan Finn. And, in practical terms, only a handful of establishments will be capable of selling alcohol on the boardwalk under the new code, including one that's been doing it for the past 15 years.

"The state Liquor Authority is the ultimate regulator of on-premises sales of alcohol. Our ordinance is in conflict with that. This is really to resolve that conflict," Finn told Newsday. "That’s pretty much the driver."

About 250 people packed the City Hall meeting space and the hallway during a public hearing ahead of the five-member board's vote. About half of attendees who addressed the board saw the City Council's move as a positive that will benefit businesses and offer residents a chance to enjoy an alcoholic beverage and a "million-dollar view" of the waterfront.

"You can go anywhere else and you can get a drink by the beach, when you go to Jones Beach, when you go to Florida," Sydney Sharpe, 27, of Long Beach, told Newsday after addressing the board.

"It would be nice in our hometown," Sharpe said. "We can have lunch and have a drink with our family and our friends. ... You're going down the block having a drink and coming to the boardwalk. What's the difference if we have a place that's authorized to do it and it's a local business?"

Long Beach code previously restricted businesses with openings onto the boardwalk from selling alcoholic beverages and banned new drinking establishments citywide. Tuesday night's vote nixed both of those longstanding restrictions. The code had been in place since 1986.

Still no drinking on beach, boardwalk

Both Finn and city spokesman John McNally emphasized that the policy change would not allow drinking on the boardwalk proper or on the beach. It would only allow the sale and consumption of alcohol on-site at businesses along the boardwalk's north side.

"No one will be permitted to drink or carry open containers of alcohol on the beach or on the boardwalk. That is not changing and I want that to be unequivocal," Finn told Newsday before Tuesday's meeting.

McNally said all 18 business that have requested an exemption from the city policy since 2013 have received one from the zoning board. The Allegria Hotel has been operating a boardwalk-level bar "without incident" since 2009, McNally said.

Only the Allegria and one other boardwalk establishment — Tulum Tacos & Tequila — are poised to take advantage of the new rules. The boardwalk's many concession stand vendors who lease city-owned property still lack the space required to serve alcohol on-site.

Safety concerns

Speakers like Linda Giles, of Long Beach, derided the code change as a potential safety risk — for bicyclists, drunk pedestrians and underage drinkers.

"We’ve never had liquor on the boardwalk ... and I don't know why we have to start," Giles, 79, told Newsday after the meeting. "We have so many young kids who get to be alcoholics and drug addicts at such a young age." 

Before casting his vote, City Councilmember George Ennis told the crowd the change will benefit businesses, tourists and residents. The "worst case" safety concerns were "over-hysteria," Ennis added. 

While the city will continue to prohibit alcohol consumption on the boardwalk itself, he said it is not up to the city to "decide how people should go about their drinking habits."

"If they get out of hand, there are ways to deal with it," Ennis said. "I don't think we need a thousand more cops. ... I think everything's going to work out just fine."

Tuesday’s proposal was at least the second time in the past decade Long Beach has considered relaxing its ban on boardwalk-adjacent drinking. In 2017, the city mulled allowing concession stands that serve food on the boardwalk to also sell alcoholic drinks.

The matter became a point of contention between the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce — which supported the policy change as a boon for local businesses — and an alcohol and drug prevention group called Long Beach Aware, which led the opposition. City Council members ultimately voted 4-1 to reject that policy change, expressing concerns about issues ranging from overconsumption to the city’s liability and hours of operation.

Long Beach Aware director Judi Vining said before the meeting that her group opposed the code change. She cited concerns ranging from public safety staffing to underage drinking. 

"If they go forward with this, what are the plans to mitigate the damage?" she said. "We would prefer not to have that because the boardwalk is a safe place for our kids."

Newsday's John Asbury contributed to this story.

CORRECTION: Linda Giles' last name was misspelled in an earlier version of this story.