Three Southern California cities have voted to challenge Governor Gavin Newsom's order to temporarily close all beaches in Orange County in response to beach crowds during a heat wave last weekend.
In emergency city council meetings held Thursday, the beachside cities of Huntington Beach, Newport Beach and Dana Point voted to pursue legal action against Newsom's order mandating beaches to close beginning Friday.
The order was defined by Newsom as a "temporary pause," but many Orange County officials have rejected it.
In a 5-2 vote, the Huntington Beach City Council voted to order the city attorney to pursue legal action to protest the beach closure, according to a press release from the city. The city plans to file an injunction on the basis of the constitutionality of the governor's order.
The mayor of Huntington Beach, Lyn Semeta, criticized Newsom's order, calling it jarring and arguing that the data regarding COVID-19 death rates in Orange County did not support a hard beach closure.
'Politics over data'
"Given that Orange County has among the lowest per capita COVID-19 death rates in California, the action by the state prioritizes politics over data, in direct contradiction of the governor's stated goal to allow science and facts to guide our response to this horrible global pandemic," the mayor said.
City Council members in Dana Point and Newport Beach also voted to support the litigation that Huntington Beach officials filed Friday. At the Dana Point Council meeting, Dana Point City Attorney Patrick Munoz said the city would be "seeking a temporary restraining order against the governor and state of California for the order to shut down beaches in Orange County."
Regardless of the city officials’ protests, Huntington Beach, Newport Beach and Dana Point closed their beaches starting Friday, including the cities' bike paths, boat ramps, restrooms and parking lots, along with other recreational services. Sunbathing, walking, running and water sports will also be prohibited as defined by the guidelines sent from the California Governor's Office of Emergency.
In Newport Beach, city employees advised surfers of the closure and said people were quick to comply.
“Most people did get the message,” John Pope, a city spokesman, told The Associated Press.
Open, with restrictions
Other beaches in Southern California have opened this week, implementing soft restrictions. For example, the city of San Diego allows its citizens to walk, jog and swim on the coast but prohibits stopping and sitting. Currently, the hard shutdown of beaches in California applies only to those in Orange County.
Meanwhile, in Northern California, a rural county also defied Newsom’s statewide shutdown orders. Modoc County, in the northeast corner of the state with a population of about 9,000, is allowing nonessential businesses to reopen, including in-restaurant dining.
Heather Hadwick, the county's deputy director of emergency services, said the county has no COVID-19 cases and is in line with the governor’s indicators for reopening.
