Social Host law vetoed after backlash in Redondo Beach
Redondo Beach’s criminal social host ordinance has been vetoed by Mayor Bill Brand, who killed the bill after receiving “significant concern” from residents.
Feedback from those opposing the law felt that the city’s plan to levy misdemeanor charges against those believed to give teens alcohol was too strong.
“Ultimately, the feedback was not comfortable with the perceived heavy hand Redondo was taking, as opposed to neighboring cities,” Brand said.
Had the ordinance not been vetoed, Redondo would have joined Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach and the entirety of the Palos Verdes Peninsula in codifying local laws against teen drinking. Those cities issue administrative fines, rather than possible jail time.
According to Redondo Beach Police Chief Keith Kauffman, a social host ordinance “bridges the gap” between laws about drinking on public property and private property, by holding landowners or leaseholders responsible for teen drinking on their property.
According to statistics provided by the Beach Cities Health District, 42 percent of 11th graders in the Beach Cities report using drugs or alcohol in the last 30 days, double the rate of LAUSD students.
At the ordinance’s first hearing, on Aug. 14, the law was passed in a unanimous 4-0 vote, with Councilman Todd Loewenstein absent. At its second reading, the law passed again, but in a 3-2 split.
Loewenstein, in particular, was concerned about pushing parties out of homes and into public.
“I’m worried if this happens, we force kids to gather in cars, park somewhere and get sloshed,” he said. “That’s my biggest fear, not my kid having a beer or getting drunk.”
Councilwoman Laura Emdee saw it differently. “I’m concerned with the adults that are handing kids alcohol and allowing it, because in their mind it’s safer in their home than to have kids out on the street drinking.”
But Loewenstein also took issue with another component. The ordinance included cost recovery, which would fine violators for the cost of using officers to break up the party, as with one 2017 party, where 12 Redondo officers were needed to clear out hundreds of people.
“To clear a party of that size, it takes every person we have plus an additional city, like Torrance,” Kauffman said. “Sometimes those parties will take an hour to two hours to clear.”
To Loewenstein, that’s a slippery slope toward balancing the budget on the public’s back.
“I hate that term, but let’s use it here,” Loewenstein said in an interview. “People get rescued off a mountaintop, it takes a helicopter, police dogs, search dogs, and I think that’s what we pay taxes for. That’s the cost of doing business in public safety.”
Loewenstein added that state penal code section 272, Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor, already addresses teen drinking issues. Kauffman, however, says PC 272 is “very convoluted,” and that the veto will make enforcement “a little tougher.”
“We work with whatever we have,” Kauffman said. “We felt [Social Host] was an additional tool that could make for a safer community, but we still have the ability to enforce state law.”
Mayor Brand said the pushback was unexpected, but that the ordinance made many residents upset.
“Part of policy-making is to determine how serious to make certain crimes. The public didn’t want this crime to land someone in jail at a local level,” Brand said. “But this is still a misdemeanor. I don’t want anyone to think that it’s not a crime to serve alcohol to minors of other people.”