Belmont Shore Safety FAQs
What is going on with safety in Belmont Shore?
Residents are increasingly concerned about public safety following three homicides in approximately 18 months, all tied to late-night alcohol activity in and around Belmont Shore. These incidents occurred in a context of an over-concentration of alcohol outlets, overserving, parking-lot drinking, and limited after-hours enforcement. Many residents experience the impacts nightly (late-night/early morning hit-and-runs, property damage, littering, loud music, assaults, public urination and vomiting, etc.) and fear what could happen next.
How has the City responded so far?
In response to these serious incidents, the City Council directed the City Manager to return with a plan focused on late-night safety and alcohol-related harms. The City Manager recently released a document outlining potential strategies and is soliciting resident input.
What is the Belmont Shore Residents Association saying about the proposal?
The Belmont Shore Residents Association (BSRA) believes the City’s proposal falls short of what is needed to meaningfully prevent harm. In response, BSRA has consulted with alcohol policy experts and public health professionals to develop a detailed 15-page policy position that lays out a stronger, people-first framework grounded in public safety, prevention, transparency, and accountability. (Read that document here.)
What can residents do?
Residents can support the BSRA policy position and help ensure the City adopts solutions that actually reduce harm rather than shift it elsewhere.
Two actions — both important — by January 28:
- Share your position (takes 2 minutes)
The Belmont Shore Residents Association has prepared resident-focused talking points, pasted below. The City is asking us to send feedback through this online form. Ask for, example:
- Clear, enforceable standards for late-night alcohol operations
- Dedicated enforcement resources funded by the businesses creating the impacts
- Join the Zoom to speak directly to the City
On January 28 at 5pm, the City is hosting a virtual meeting to learn more about their proposal. You can register for that meeting here. The more of showing up the better.
Don’t we just need more cops?
BSRA recognizes the real limitations on police resources and does not support diverting officers from other critical city needs. Simply calling for “more cops” does not address the root causes of late-night alcohol harms.
Instead, BSRA is proposing a legally sound, prevention-focused solution: require alcohol establishments to pay fees that fund a dedicated alcohol-enforcement officer and additional city staff focused specifically on compliance, monitoring, and accountability.
Why should the bars and restaurants pay for problems caused by patrons?
Because alcohol-related problems are a predictable result of how late-night bars and restaurants operate, not random acts by individuals. Cities across California already require alcohol establishments to pay fees for dedicated enforcement and compliance when their operations create ongoing public safety impacts, rather than shifting those costs onto residents and taxpayers.