City Weighs Alcohol Ban, Date Change for Six-Man

Manhattan Beach Police Chief Rod Uyeda is deeply worried. And that, in turn, has City Council members concerned.

The source of Uyeda's unease is the growing unmanageability of the Charlie Saikley Six-Man Beach Volleyball Tournament, which began in 1961 with attendance in the hundreds and two officers on duty. With attendance increasing steadily—then sharply every year since 2006—the crowd numbers swelled to 60,000 last year. For the July 2010 event, that figure is expected to reach 80,000—more than double the population of the city.

"In 2009, that was the largest crowd we've seen to date," Uyeda told the council  Tuesday. "I've never seen so many people in one spot in my life. From a safety perspective, it's not smart. You can't walk through the crowd, and if something happens in an emergency, you can't get to it. And even if you can, what's to say you can get back out?"

The bike path also became completely overrun with spectators last summer for the first time in the event's history, Uyeda said, and the crowd spilled over into a greater portion of downtown.

The situation is made only worse by an abundance of alcohol.

Business and property owners from as far away as Sepulveda Boulevard have complained to police about public urination, vomiting and loud, obnoxious behavior by event goers.

Though alcohol is officially banned on the beach, police have been somewhat lenient about enforcement in years past. Visitors to the event mock the signs prohibiting public alcohol consumption, and Capt. Derrick Abell said some even drink brazenly from their open cars as foot patrol officers pass by. "Large amounts of alcohol" have become common in the players' tents, as well, according to a department report.

The type and amount of alcohol being consumed has also changed dramatically. Around 2003, event spectators started bringing in kegs of beer and burying them on the beach the night before the tournament, Abell said. The next day, wagonloads of beer would turn up. More recently, attendees started bringing hard alcohol in soda and juice bottles, along with liquor-laden Jell-O products.

"This is a huge accident waiting to happen," said resident Paul Gross, who lives along the Strand. "The change you've gotta make is to take away the party."

"That's the alcohol," said Councilwoman Portia Cohen.

 Councilman Nick Tell insisted that an alcohol ban was only part of the solution. He said the city must begin addressing the underlying problem—the ever-increasing crowd numbers.

In response to police department suggestions of increasing the event's fenced perimeter and installing areas to park bikes, "All we're doing is making room for more crowds," he said.

"Ultimately, this community will revolt and this event will get shut down," he added.

The recommendations made by city police to the council include contracting outside police services at an estimated cost of $50,000; private security services and an added city police presence totaling $42,000; and other city staff services that would tack on an extra $51,000.

The additional $143,000 cost would be offset by raising the entry fee imposed on teams in the tournament. Last year, the fees were set at $400 for masters teams, $600 for local teams and $1,000 for sponsored teams. Although the masters fees would increase by only $100 under the proposed changes, the fees for local and sponsored teams would soar to $1,600.

Brent Griebenow, who participated in the 2007 tournament, told the council that teams will "gladly pay" the higher fees and will "come no matter what." He suggested the city try to enforce an alcohol ban so that "we can bring this back to where it belongs."

"It's about volleyball, not a drunkathon," said Jay Saikley, the tournament's director. The son of tournament founder Charlie Saikley said he plans to make a public service announcement in advance of the event, highlighting any rule changes and "serious consequences" for illicit behavior. "If I had my way," he said, "we'd be handing out citations for open containers."

But one problem with strict enforcement of the alcohol ban is that it ties up already limited police staff, Abell said.

"When you make an arrest with staff, it has to be for a good reason," he said. "Otherwise, it's like fish in a barrel—there are so many people already drunk. And with each arrest, you take away your staff from [patrolling] the event."

Another concern with a sudden crackdown on drinking, Uyeda said, is that it creates a combustible environment in which police are outnumbered roughly 1,500-to-1 by spectators."A crowd of that size," he said, "they have knowledge of their power."

"My only fear this year has been Six-Man," he said.

Nevertheless, Uyeda recommended banning any unsealed containers or Jell-O products this year, estimating that this alone would decrease the amount of alcohol brought in by 70 percent.

Other measures considered by the council include pushing the Saturday event back from its current July 31 date to a month or two later—what Councilman Nick Tell called "an early fall transplant."

Denny Smith, a resident and self-proclaimed "mayor of El Porto" who has been involved with managing the tournament since the 1980s, favored the proposed crackdown on alcohol, but resisted the later tournament date. He told the council that with such a move, "You'll really change what's going on with the event."

"That's what we're trying to do,"  Tell said.