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The man threatened employees and set a small fire before walking away. It took several calls to 911 before SMPD arrived
Credit: Jennifer Rush
Recently at Blue Plate Taco, an older white man walked up to the parklet on Ocean Avenue carrying a half empty bottle of vodka, yelling Happy New Year, and became disruptive to guests and tourists on Ocean Avenue. This weekend was particularly busy with tourists due to Rose Bowl and this is what our diners saw. I personally apologized to several tables who said they had never stayed in SM before and were totally shocked with what they saw over the past few days and would not come back.
The disruptive man was then joined by a friend who came by smoking a joint, and they started getting into it. He was waving the bottle around and then moved all of his belongings into our parklet. I told my team to call 911 and ambassadors. I went to take a photo, as I knew the police would request that, and he started getting hostile, flipped me off and then approached me and my coworkers yelling from afar that he was going to kill us and was using the bottle threateningly. He called me the N word, called my coworker BOY and was insanely ranting, pacing and threatening. A few police cars drove by slowly on Ocean while this was going on and we tried to flag them down, but they continued to drive by.
My coworker tried to protect the people at the restaurant and asked him to move on but he continued. It was scary for all and sickening. I told him the police were coming and he started moving toward the restaurant Meat on Ocean where he took a newspaper, his lighter and his leather jacket and lit it on fire. We and the Meat team had to put out the fire. I called 911 several times as nobody showed. The private security ambassadors showed up five minutes later and observed us putting out the fire, shaken up. The female security team member said she recognized this guy. When police came, he had left the scene, as usual and headed up Broadway. There were three officers and we immediately told them which direction he went in. They did not pursue but only asked for details of the situation. “How was he holding he bottle? How was he threatening? What was he saying?”
I was pretty hysterical as nobody really seemed to care about finding this guy. The female officer asked me to recreate how the crazy guy approached me and how close he got so I showed them at which point the police warned me for being aggressive and too close to the female officer. It was pretty patronizing as if I were being unreasonable.
I then told them how frustrated I was as this is a regular occurrence and nobody pursued this person who had turned the corner five minutes prior? The answer was one again, “We can’t do much,” and blaming state laws saying that they could try to arrest him but he would most likely get out. I assume from past experience that I will get a call from the City to see if I will press charges on this guy, if in fact he was apprehended. With the frequency of these types of episodes, I would have to make it a full time job to press charges. I have three businesses in SM that generate tax dollars to pay for City salaries in addition to being a SM resident for 35 years paying property taxes. So … You can walk on the streets of SM with an open bottle, smoke crack in front of our kids, threaten people with a bottle and slam them with racial slurs, light a fire and I get cited for a table three inches too far on the sidewalk?
There were tourists galore in SM this weekend with Rose Bowl and that is what they are seeing. We are all tired of the City blaming the state. You simply do not see this in Beverly Hills or Manhattan Beach. We have businesses there as well and this DOES NOT happen. We have been promised more presence on Ocean Avenue where tourists pay over 500/night for a room and I see no difference. Things are getting worse. The Economic development team at the City of SM, transportation department and other teams call periodically to tell us we cannot have a cover on our parklet to protect guests from rain and sun, yet there are no consequences to driving tourism to the ground or threatening residents and business owners? Anarchy is present on the streets yet we are all being forced to comply with rules that have nothing to do with what is best for the economy and building business?
I have written to the State as advised and they say it is up to the City and City Attorney to enforce and provide places for mentally ill or criminals to go. This all seems like a poorly run machine where nobody is accountable or cares enough to step up. I have received so many calls from individuals asking for private meetings to discuss the root of problems and I simply cannot see a reason why the people who run the City cannot come together with common goals of safety and helping businesses thrive like other cities? Can we not all meet once again with solutions other than, “we have hired more police?” Or once again blame state legislation? The state of affairs is sad in DTSM. Locals and tourists stay away from Ocean Avenue and the park which is a space we should all be proud of. It is ridden with homelessness and drugs. Whatever is happening now is not working and we do not feel safe. Can anyone offer new solutions? In a recent meeting with the City about outdoor dining, I was told that the City was looking to SF for guidance? That is about right as REI and several of the other reputable retailers are leaving as they do not feel SAFE!!!!!
QUESTION:
What can we do to protect ourselves from this type of threatening person other than call the police who often show when it is too late? ? I have asked this many times and no answer.
Why is the allegiance to the “HELPLESS” on the street who are often times dangerous over the people who are contributing and working long hours to support the City? Can anyone offer an explanation?
If SM Police are truly unable to keep people in jail, and they keep getting out, why is the City beefing up police?
We are aware of the new DTSM security team. What exactly are they able to do? A few days ago I saw them surrounding a zombie homeless man who was sprawled across the sidewalk blocking pedestrians on Colorado. Are they not able to move these people or take them somewhere, where they can get help?
Seems like nobody in SM government is making needed changes or realizing how dangerous and scary this is to people who are working in the area. Most importantly it is terrible for business.
Something has to change. My teams have asked that I reach out to the City to get answers on how they can feel safer. Can someone let us know if the guy was found?
Opinion: Another scary incident on Ocean Avenue
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Recently at Blue Plate Taco, an older white man walked up to the parklet on Ocean Avenue carrying a half empty bottle of vodka, yelling Happy New Year, and became disruptive to guests and tourists on Ocean Avenue. This weekend was particularly busy with tourists due to Rose Bowl and this is what our diners saw. I personally apologized to several tables who said they had never stayed in SM before and were totally shocked with what they saw over the past few days and would not come back.
The disruptive man was then joined by a friend who came by smoking a joint, and they started getting into it. He was waving the bottle around and then moved all of his belongings into our parklet. I told my team to call 911 and ambassadors. I went to take a photo, as I knew the police would request that, and he started getting hostile, flipped me off and then approached me and my coworkers yelling from afar that he was going to kill us and was using the bottle threateningly. He called me the N word, called my coworker BOY and was insanely ranting, pacing and threatening. A few police cars drove by slowly on Ocean while this was going on and we tried to flag them down, but they continued to drive by.
My coworker tried to protect the people at the restaurant and asked him to move on but he continued. It was scary for all and sickening. I told him the police were coming and he started moving toward the restaurant Meat on Ocean where he took a newspaper, his lighter and his leather jacket and lit it on fire. We and the Meat team had to put out the fire. I called 911 several times as nobody showed. The private security ambassadors showed up five minutes later and observed us putting out the fire, shaken up. The female security team member said she recognized this guy. When police came, he had left the scene, as usual and headed up Broadway. There were three officers and we immediately told them which direction he went in. They did not pursue but only asked for details of the situation. “How was he holding he bottle? How was he threatening? What was he saying?”
I was pretty hysterical as nobody really seemed to care about finding this guy. The female officer asked me to recreate how the crazy guy approached me and how close he got so I showed them at which point the police warned me for being aggressive and too close to the female officer. It was pretty patronizing as if I were being unreasonable.
I then told them how frustrated I was as this is a regular occurrence and nobody pursued this person who had turned the corner five minutes prior? The answer was one again, “We can’t do much,” and blaming state laws saying that they could try to arrest him but he would most likely get out. I assume from past experience that I will get a call from the City to see if I will press charges on this guy, if in fact he was apprehended. With the frequency of these types of episodes, I would have to make it a full time job to press charges. I have three businesses in SM that generate tax dollars to pay for City salaries in addition to being a SM resident for 35 years paying property taxes. So … You can walk on the streets of SM with an open bottle, smoke crack in front of our kids, threaten people with a bottle and slam them with racial slurs, light a fire and I get cited for a table three inches too far on the sidewalk?
There were tourists galore in SM this weekend with Rose Bowl and that is what they are seeing. We are all tired of the City blaming the state. You simply do not see this in Beverly Hills or Manhattan Beach. We have businesses there as well and this DOES NOT happen. We have been promised more presence on Ocean Avenue where tourists pay over 500/night for a room and I see no difference. Things are getting worse. The Economic development team at the City of SM, transportation department and other teams call periodically to tell us we cannot have a cover on our parklet to protect guests from rain and sun, yet there are no consequences to driving tourism to the ground or threatening residents and business owners? Anarchy is present on the streets yet we are all being forced to comply with rules that have nothing to do with what is best for the economy and building business?
I have written to the State as advised and they say it is up to the City and City Attorney to enforce and provide places for mentally ill or criminals to go. This all seems like a poorly run machine where nobody is accountable or cares enough to step up. I have received so many calls from individuals asking for private meetings to discuss the root of problems and I simply cannot see a reason why the people who run the City cannot come together with common goals of safety and helping businesses thrive like other cities? Can we not all meet once again with solutions other than, “we have hired more police?” Or once again blame state legislation? The state of affairs is sad in DTSM. Locals and tourists stay away from Ocean Avenue and the park which is a space we should all be proud of. It is ridden with homelessness and drugs. Whatever is happening now is not working and we do not feel safe. Can anyone offer new solutions? In a recent meeting with the City about outdoor dining, I was told that the City was looking to SF for guidance? That is about right as REI and several of the other reputable retailers are leaving as they do not feel SAFE!!!!!
QUESTION:
Seems like nobody in SM government is making needed changes or realizing how dangerous and scary this is to people who are working in the area. Most importantly it is terrible for business.
Something has to change. My teams have asked that I reach out to the City to get answers on how they can feel safer. Can someone let us know if the guy was found?
Jennifer Rush, Blue Plate Restaurant Group
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