Politics & Government

Dockweiler Youth Center in Playa del Rey Undergoing Growing Pains

A report to the Los Angeles County Beach Commission shows that the Dockweiler Youth Center has had challenges catering to youngsters.

The 2-year-old Dockweiler Youth Center has been experiencing some growing pains with only nine children participating in a week-long beach camp over the summer and lifeguards warning of dangerous conditions for children on the stretch of beach in front of the center, according to a report submitted Wednesday to the Los Angeles County Beach Commission.

The youth center at Dockweiler State Beach in Playa del Rey opened to the public on Oct. 21, 2009, but most of the activities, which include nature walks, shore fishing, yoga classes and women's self defense workshops, have been primarily attended by adults, the report said.

The county's Department of Beaches and Harbor in August held its first Discovery Beach Camp for children ages 7 to 13 at the center, but only nine children participated. The department's shore fishing class has had more success drawing youngsters, with 146 people attending the introductory fishing class since January 2010, including 90 participants under age 18 and 79 children who were under 13.

A program targeting inner-city youth called Water Awareness, Training, Education and Recreation (W.A.T.E.R) originally was slated to be held at the Dockweiler Youth Center, but there has been little money to expand the program. Lifeguards at Dockweiler State Beach also have found that the stretch of beach in front of the youth center is too dangerous for youth ocean activities. According to the report, the beach topography becomes very steep at the edge of the water, causing large waves to break on shore. The beach conditions have scuttled the kayaking, body boarding, surfing and swimming activities that had been expected at the beach in front of the youth center.

Chief Lifeguard Mike Frazer disputed the notion that the beach in front of the youth center is not safe for children.

"We specifically picked this location because of safety issues," Frazer said.

Frazer said "low-level lifeguards" made the safety assessment, but it was not the official position of the county's Lifeguard Division and would be evaluated.

"The lifeguards who said this will probably be reprimanded for speaking out of turn," Frazer said.

Equipment for ocean activities stored at the youth center have been moved by lifeguards further south near the Chevron Jetty when children do venture into the ocean, the report said.

The Dockweiler Youth Center's location also has been an impediment because it's not close to residential areas and requires transportation for children and "recreational programmers tend to want to spend money directly on programming, not transportation," the report said.

The youth center also has endured a staffing shortage due to budget constraints within the Department of Beaches and Harbors, with the number of youth counselors being reduced from two to one, said Penelope Rodriguez of the Department of Beaches and Harbors' community and marketing services division.

Santos Kreimann, director of the Department of Beaches and Harbors, said the W.A.T.E.R. program is funded by his department and implemented with the help of lifeguards.

The department does have plans to expand its W.A.T.E.R. program and wants to bring back its summer camp, but has to be mindful of budget constraints, Kreimann said.

"It's a phenomenal facility and in the long run it's going to be a tremendous benefit to the children, members of the public and the department," Kreimann said. "We just happened to open the facility at the worst possible time."

The report said the Dockweiler Youth Center has been successful as a public venue with 203 events and 37 weddings there to date.

In other action at the Beach Commission meeting:

  • Winter beach berms may be constructed as early as next week starting at Dockweiler State Beach on the southern end and Zuma Beach to the north, said Kenneth Foreman, acting division chief of the facilities and property maintenance division. The beach berms have long been an unofficial sign of winter for residents who live near the beach.
  • A new beach permit process that includes a bidding component has drawn 44 applications, including 25 that are bidding for the same location, Rodriguez said. Beach commissioner Chuck Milam asked last month for at least one commissioner to be on the review panel due to criticisms by beach camps and surfing schools over the new permit policy. Kreimann said that a beach commissioner could review the application process, but could not participate in the scoring or selection of applicants.
  • A $1.2 million reconstruction of the parking lot in Venice Beach at the end of Washington Boulevard has been put on hold while the City of Los Angeles considers the feasibility of taking back the operation and maintenance responsibilities for Venice Beach. The city brought forth the idea during its budget process and the county is waiting to see if it will go ahead with its plans, Kreimann said. "If they are going to take the parking lot they are going to take the revenue that we use to maintain their beaches, then it doesn't make any sense for the county to continue operating it," Kreimann said. "You can't just take the parking lot and the revenue and assume the county will continue to pay for it."
  • The $5.5 million Marina del Rey Dredging project is scheduled for January 2012 and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans to dredge 160,000 cubic yards of clean sand from the marina channel's north entrance. The sand will be moved on a barge to a pit just offshore Redondo Beach and 60,000 to 80,000 cubic yards will be used to widen Redondo Beach by about 20 feet and elevate the berm to about 15 feet between the Ruby Groin and the Topaz Groin.


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