Bicyclists create disorder at Mission Beach

Little has changed in the lifestyle of the Mission Bay communities since my commentary last July. Parking and trash removal are still major issues and will always be a challenge for beachgoers and residents.

The good news is the reopening of the Mission Beach Plunge. It was closed last year, depriving children of the traditional swimming classes, school swim teams of a place to train, and a large group of seniors that uses the pool for physical therapy. The former lessee of the Belmont Park attraction filed for bankruptcy when the rent was boosted to market rate from the low minimum to encourage improvements at the lessee's expense.

This summer the amusement park, shops and nightspots appear to be busy, along with the pool and health club, judging by the crowded parking lots, even in the evening hours. Anyone planning to park near Belmont Park had better get there before noon on warm summer days. I watch hundreds of cars every weekend milling around the public parking lots hoping someone might leave.

The latest sour note in the otherwise casual and genial summer lazy days at the shore came in June in a confrontation between pedestrians and cyclists on Ocean Front Walk. It’s a problem that has been brewing for a long time.

Ten years ago, some well-meaning city safety official thought northbound and southbound traffic could be regulated with a complex system of designated lanes to separate pedestrians from their wheeled counterparts.

Bicyclers, skateboarders and Rollerbladers were supposed to use designated lanes painted on the concrete walk. Of course, some pedestrians paid no attention as they leisurely strolled along the beachfront. All the traffic flow was returned to moving forward on the right, and letting walkers dodge their wheeled counterparts weaving in and out.

An accident had to happen. The beach area has been invaded by a group of cyclists called the Critical Mass, a national movement with hundreds of chapters. Their mission, besides the healthy exercise of biking, is to prove they should have special exclusive rights to the roadways and walkways. On their monthly organized outings, they purposely ride en masse down the street, preventing any vehicles from passing them.

An accident happened on June 29 on Ocean Front Walk in north Mission Beach when a woman walking with her husband was bumped by a cyclist participating in Critical Mass. After an exchange of expletives, the woman was pushed down on the walk face-first, and her husband flung a bicycle at a rider, causing eight or 10 riders to collide. An escorting patrol car stopped to help the woman get to the hospital. What made the husband really angry was that none of the cyclists offered to help the woman struck down by one of their group while he was being roughed up.

Assistant Police Chief Boyd Long said it was the police department’s policy to manage this monthly event that has been growing since 1997. There are as many as 1,400 local participants. Long agreed that 500 cyclists on the Mission Beach boardwalk at one time is unsafe. We will "not tolerate acts of violence or acts of vandalism," he told a U-T San Diego reporter.

For some unknown reason, the city police force is letting Critical Mass perform its demonstrations without regard to traffic laws. Obstructing right-of-way traffic, running red lights and generally causing traffic gridlock is tolerated while the patrol cars follow the cyclists on their route. I doubt the city is issuing demonstration permits to this group, because they are breaking laws and creating safety hazards, not to mention rude disregard for others.

I was caught in one of these cyclist road-hog events, slowing traffic to a crawl from Sports Arena Boulevard all the way to Belmont Park. Despite honking horns and the police car “escort,” the cyclists refused to yield the roadway while they peddled leisurely through at least three red lights. Traffic crossing on the green light did not know what to do. The police passively watched instead of letting go with sirens and red lights to break up the traffic obstacle.

As I prepared this Mission Bay update, U-T San Diego reported on the 2011 San Diego safety record of bicycles on the roadways. There were 328 moving collisions involving cyclists, 312 injuries and five fatalities. The Mission Beach clash calls for better sharing of road and walkways.

Another Mission Bay Park event causing concern among city planners is the addition of another thrill ride at SeaWorld. Eight years ago, community activists fought a losing battle to prevent the construction of a roller coaster, facetiously called a “marine experience” by SeaWorld management. The ride splashed down into a pond, so the marine aspect was justified.

That breach of the “no roller coaster rides” promise at the marine park made it easier to add another one pretending to be aquatic because the carriages look like a manta ray and pass by tanks of real mantas. That’s the marine experience.

With SeaWorld attracting tourists, often to capacity, city officials are inclined to ignore the Mission Bay Park Master Plan that has set development criteria since 1939. They should read the original concept and several revisions over the last 70 years.

Ford is a freelance writer located in San Diego. He can be reached at johnpatrick.ford@sddt.com.