Council Drives Golf Out of Parks, but Puts Brakes on Bike Ban

By Olin Ericksen
Staff Writer

July 30 – Here’s something else you won’t be able to do in a city park: hit golf balls.

In the interests of protecting park surfaces from iron-wielding links enthusiasts and park patrons from flying Titilists, City Council members voted unanimously Tuesday to whack golf out of all 27 local parks.

But the council decided to apply the brakes to another proposed prohibition: bicycling in ocean-view Palisades Park.

“When you have someone swinging a golf club at a ball, even a whiffle ball, there’s a risk that someone will be hit,” Barbara Stinchfield, who oversees the city’s parks as director of community and cultural development, told council members.

Nine nearby cities have similar ordinances and Santa Monica would simply be updating its own municipal code, Stinchfield said.

The penalty stroke for violators would be a citation, but how steep the fine would be to keep golfers on approved fairways remains unclear.

The ban comes at a time when council members are considering partnering with Santa Monica College on a proposed $175 million dollar bond measure, designed to increase the City’s shortage of open space.

Aside from exploring a possible distinction between putting and driving balls, the measure -- which also prohibits “grinding” skateboards on park concrete – was approved without amendments or much discussion among the Council.

The proposed bicycle ban in scenic Palisades Park did not fare as well with skeptical Council members.

Although she could not name a single instance of a collision between a bicyclist and pedestrian in the overlook park, Stinchfield said her department has fielded “numerous complaints” about bicyclists, many of whom apparently prefer the park’s interior pathways to the designated bike path on Ocean Avenue alongside the park.

“It [the Palisades Park pathway] is heavily used by pedestrians, walkers and joggers,” said Stinchfield, “The bikers in the park, they’re racing through the parks and it really does cause a conflict.”

Council members balked at the idea of adding yet another regulation to the City’s lengthening list of banned behaviors.

“It’s one more nail in the coffin of moving (Santa Monica) away from being a cool beach community, towards a gentrified, uncool place,” said Council member Michael Feinstein, who a few minutes earlier voted for the ban on golfing.

Feinstein also said he was hesitant to impose restrictions on alternate forms of transportation in a City choked with cars -- especially modes of transport that require physical activity and emit no pollution.

“I’ll be voting against anything here that bans bikers from our park,” Feinstein said.

Others questioned whether bicyclists were a problem at all in the scenic park.

“I’ve gone down to that park many, many times and I’ve never seen anyone barreling down at a high rate of speed,” said Mayor Pro-Tem Kevin McKeown, himself a cyclist.

McKeown questioned whether enforcement could be problematic, and asked if officers would be stationed in the park to cite offenders.

“Park Rangers would simply have a code that they could cite, which they don’t have now,” Stinchfield said.

Mayor Richard Bloom and Council member Robert Holbrook peddled a different view of the proposed law, which they felt held some merit.

“You just don’t understand the apprehension that a pedestrian has when you’re coming straight for them,” said Holbrook. “I was nearly knocked down Sunday night by a guy on the sidewalk going about 30 miles per hour.”

Holbrook and Bloom both noted that many senior citizens frequent Palisades Park.

“We have a senior center right in the middle of Palisades Park, and I think for seniors this is a particularly serious issue,” Bloom said.

However, Council members Herb Katz – who declared himself the true senior on the panel compared to his fellow board members – and Ken Genser, who has some mobility impairment, felt the ban unnecessary.

“I just don’t see the reason for this,” said Genser. “I think part of living in an urban environment is trying to get along in ways that are compatible for our neighbors.”

The council is expected to revisit the proposed bicycle ban on August 3.

In other business, the Council continued to the next meeting the issue of whether or not to support a bill moving through the state legislature that would extend indefinitely the time limit for families of deceased fire fighters to file claims against the city in work-related deaths.

City Attorney Marsha Moutrie cautioned that extending that claim period – which is currently between one and five years -- could increase the City’s liability exposure.

“Evidentiary connections become more tenuous as time goes by,” said Moutrie. She added that if someone filed a claim many years later “it would become very difficult to pin down what the cause of death was because the evidence would no longer be available.”

The most common claims for firefighters, according to staffers, are cancer and heart disease.

McKeown pulled the item from the consent calendar, saying the council should acquire more information before deciding to oppose the bill. “It’s a life-affecting bill for those who put their lives on the line for the City,” he said.

In other actions, the Council approved the issuance of tax-exempt bonds totaling $8 million by the California Statewide Communities Development Authority to help fund the construction of Pacific Court, a 44-unit affordable housing development to be constructed at 2209 Main Street by Community Corporation of Santa Monica.