Anonymous
Source: Santa Barbara County
The Santa Barbara County Community Services Department has announced that the beaches at Isla Vista will be closed due to the potential for a large event commonly known as “Deltopia” on Friday, April 1 through Sunday, April 3.
The closure is to prevent a re-occurrence of the conditions that resulted from a 2009 unsanctioned event which resulted in damage to the environment and community of Isla Vista. This event was then known as “Floatopia”. The Santa Barbara County Code (Section 26-11) authorizes the Community Services Department to close any County recreation area including beaches if conditions are warranted.
Following the “Floatopia” event of 2009, the beaches at Isla Vista were left strewn with trash and debris, including human waste. This large-scale event with thousands of participants had no provision for the health and well-being of the public, including no facilities for human sanitation or refuse collection. The County of Santa Barbara, therefore has acted to close the Isla Vista beaches for similar events since 2010 in order to prevent harm to the environment.
The “Deltopia” event announced for April 1-3, 2022 is not a sanctioned nor sponsored event and there are no approved permits issued. As such, the County Community Services Department will post the Isla Vista beaches as closed to public entry to protect public health and safety and to protect the beach from excessive waste and litter.
The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department will enforce the closure.
Basic, I think you could make a strong argument that the kids have ruined isla vista, or perhaps the university has. I think that’s another topic for another time. I find it extremely disturbing that unelected officials have the authority to target certain individuals or groups and shut down public spaces in order to prevent them from assembling. Could this power be used to suppress a political movement? There have been numerous mass gatherings in recent years for a variety of causes. Many of these gatherings have been far more destructive than anything that has been organized in isla vista. What basis is there for the government to decide which mass gatherings are suppressed and which are allowed to take place. Would it be appropriate to shut down public spaces and ban a planned BLM protest because similar events resulted in extensive property damage, injuries, and loss of life in recent years? I think the answer is to respect the right of the people to peacefully assemble. It is not the place of the government to pick which assemblies are allowed and which are not. However, destruction of property and acts of violence should not be tolerated.
CHIP – ehhh…. try not to conflate illegal/unsanctioned parties and political protests. I wouldn’t worry about them using the “Floatopia rule” to close down public spaces for planned protests. This is more about lazy policing to me. An event that happened ONCE 12 years ago should not be the justification for closing down a large swath of public property every year out of fear that it might happen again. Especially not so when the “Deltopia” parties have diminished in size year after year.
Sac, Floatopia is a protest against unlawful beach closures.
BASIC – why would there be another Deltopia (actually Floatopia) at the beach? The cops would be there in force (only need a handful of cops/rangers/life guards walking the beach) to keep them off the beach. Why does the entire community have to be penalized just because the county is worried kids might party on the beach again? I’m not ruffled up, just confused how anyone, especially a “freedom lover” like yourself, could be OK with this? It’s pure laziness!
CHIP …….. lol
VOICE – give it a rest, man. This about more than just our right to assemble (which this really isn’t), it’s about lazy and detrimental policing policies that affect innocent residents. It’s about shutting down public beaches out of fear that something might happen that’s only happened ONCE in 12 years.
What happened to the right to peacefully assemble? It seems like isla vista has turned into a bit of a police state where civil liberties are no longer recognized.
CHIP – agree 100%. I felt the same when they closed the beaches due to covid on the 4th. We have thousands of cops on the payroll. Use them. Put them on patrol looking for violations, don’t just shut everything down out of fear some people might break the law. What’s the point of having a police force if you just shut everything down? Get to work, SBSO!