For those hoping to play Frisbee or throw around a football on the beach this summer – you still can.
The “Frisbee ban” that launched a social media frenzy last week with inaccurate reports of a $1,000 fine against violators is not true, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Beaches and Harbors.
On Jan. 31, the department updated its 36-page ordinance regulating beach activities, which includes ball-playing restrictions on county parks, beaches and public areas. Sandwiched between a clause on hazardous conditions in the ocean and another prohibiting operating model airplanes on the beach was a section on ball-playing restrictions.
“The new ordinance lifts a decades-old, all-out ban on playing football, Frisbee and other ball on the beach,” according to a beaches and harbors statement. “Its purpose is to allow ball playing, while providing reasonable safety measures that lifeguards may impose on a crowded beach day, when wayward footballs or Frisbees could cause injuries to bystanders.”
Prior to the update, there actually was a ban on playing football or Frisbee on the beach.
Ball playing is allowed during off-season, but during peak season, between Memorial Day and Labor Day, the ordinance gives lifeguards the authority to stop a game if it threatens the safety of beach-goers. First time violators of the ordinance will be fined $100 and second time violators, $200. For each additional citation in the same year, the violator will be fined $500.
When the Surfrider Foundation posted an inaccurate media report about the ordinance on Facebook, community members flooded the site with 343 comments in less than two days, declaring the ban “a joke,” “tyranny” and “insanity.” “What next? A fine for laughing?” one individual wrote.
One Manhattan Beach resident was even planning to gather community members for a flash-mob-like Frisbee protest on the beach the day the ordinance was set to take effect.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe is directing the department to rewrite the ordinance for clarification. “We must do a better job of creating clear communications to minimize confusion like we had on this one when incorrect information went viral,” he said in a statement.
