No parking signs were posted along PCH to prevent people from entering the beach and water during the coronavirus.
Following the beach closures, LAPD Officers Brian Espin and Earl Wright, who were working the beach detail, received complaints from L.A. County Lifeguards about surfers and homeless people parking their cars and RVs along Pacific Coast Highway. These individuals were defying the L.A. County mandate not to walk along the beach and or swim in the ocean during the coronavirus pandemic.
The officers worked with LADOT to install signage stating “No Stopping Anytime” along PCH, from Temescal Canyon road west to Coastline. The signs were positioned on April 10 and the lifeguards were reportedly happy with the result.
Last October, the Coastal Commission approved the posting of signage that specified “No Parking” from midnight to 2 a.m. on the landward side of PCH and “No Parking” on the ocean side of PCH between 2 and 4 a.m. daily between Pacific Palisades (Coastline) and Malibu.
Stephanie Cohen, district deputy for County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl, had been working for two years to get the parking hours approved by the Commission.
Circling the News reported on October 25 (“Signs Will Go Up Along PCH in L.A. County Specifying Parking Hours”) that the goal was to end the long-term parking of RV campers along PCH.
“Our joint goal is to have signs fabricated and posted by mid-November and we will keep you posted as that moves along,” Cohen wrote. “While we are working with law enforcement on these regulations, I also need folks to understand this will not be an overnight fix. Our goal is never to displace folks who are experiencing homelessness and we will continue to work to get them into proper solutions such as safe parking and shelter before completely removing vehicles.”
Now the City is also enforcing “No Parking” along PCH. LAPD Officers Rusty Redican and Jimmy Soliman will return to the beach detail on April 15.
Thank you Stephanie Cohen, Lifeguards, and Officer Espin and Officer Wright for getting this in place. And thank you to Officer Redican and Officer Soliman for managing this.
We live on Castellammare and see every day that the no parking signs are completely ignored. On Sunday cars were parked all along PCH. Maybe once a day a police car comes by, all the cars leave, the police leave, and the cars come back. Perhaps the City should station some of the parking enforces who are always in our village at the beach to vigorously enforce the no parking rule.