Unleash the Beach

May 12, 2016

Greetings to all Unleash The Beach members and dog beach fans,

As you know we have struggled with the state for 11 years and they refuse to give us permission for a pilot dog beach. Our Santa Monica City Beach is actually “owned” by the state and they have the final word.

Well, there is a new movement for more dog beaches in LA County.  Jeff Douek and his associate in West Hollywood have started an initiative to be put on the county ballot in November allowing citizens to access the county beaches  with their dogs.  It is a little fuzzy exactly which beaches are county owned, but according to a couple of official documents on the Internet there are a few beach areas that are considered county and not state.

If you go to Google and ask "What LA county beaches are owned by the county," you will find this: file.lacounty.gov/dbh/docs/cmst_1490602.pdf LOS ANGELES COUNTY BEACH HISTORY.  It states that Nicholas Canyon County Beach was their first beach “acquired by the county” and  “Today the County not only operates and maintains the beaches along the Los Angeles Coast but also owns most of them."

We know from previous meeting and experience with the county officials that they are not fans of dog beaches any more than the state. But  with a ballot initiative they passed they may be forced to act.

The effort now is to get enough signatures on the ballot so that the county will have to respond.  Hopefully in the very least they will not ticket if we bring our dogs. 

The petitions must be paper and not  digital.  There are petitions you can download and  send in on their website.

LADogBeaches.com….Be sure and note that the forms for more than two signatures MUST be double-sided.

There is also an address on the site where you can send these in. Must be in by June 1.  You can also drop them by the WEHO Bistro, address also on website, and you could even pick up more forms there.

More than half the signatures are already collected but the time left  to collect the rest is short.  Please copy some forms and get your friends and neighbors to sign them and get them in before the deadline.   

There will also be a rally for this movement this Saturday, May 14 from 11 - 2 at Rosie’s Beach in Long Beach regarding the petition drive. If you go please tell them you are a member of Unleash the Beach and people should also sign up for our Facebook and web pages.  If this thing works out it could well mean progress for our local beach as well..

For more information go to LADogBeaches.com and act now! 

Dog beaches in our county is a GREAT thing!!! 

Let’s have a big show of support from the Unleash the Beach crowd and help make this a success!

Best regards,

Georja Umano

Founder and Director

Unleash the Beach