Manhattan Beach, Ticket for MBMC 4.102.010, Case Dismissed

While our client was certainly hidden from view from the street and even neighbors of the house under construction (it was also 2:30 a.m. and dark and he was not in the light), he was arrested for public excretion, a violation of Manhattan Beach Municipal Code § 4.102.010.

The Torrance District Attorney handling cases for Manhattan Beach, once she heard the circumstances of the arrest, agreed with Greg Hill that the problem was perhaps more related to alcohol consumption than urinating in a place visible to the public.

Synopsis: Client, an attorney, arrested for public excretion (Manhattan Beach Municipal Code § 4.102.010) in Manhattan Beach, case dismissed.

However, it is equally noteworthy that our office has never seen a resident or merchant in Hermosa Beach ticketed, arrested or prosecuted for using a garden hose or bucket of water to wash the urine down a drain. Instead, the drunk bar patron, who has just spent perhaps over $100 in a local bar, is locked out of the bar, provided inadequate public restrooms and then handed a ticket that could be over $1,000 and possibly a criminal record.

We think the solution to this problem is to either allow residents and merchants to wash urine down the storm drains, as most other cities nearby do, and / or improve the lighting and signage for the public restrooms in downtown Hermosa Beach. An even better solution would be to either require restaurants and bars to allow patrons back in to use the restrooms or build public restrooms in the parking structure to the north of the Pier Plaza and in the ground-level parking lot to the south of Pier Plaza.

The current public restrooms are on the sand, near the pier, which is far away from where they are needed late at night. Moreover, even if someone were to venture in that direction, the restrooms are poorly lit and raise concerns about personal safety if one were to enter such a place.

Torrance Courthouse

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