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Long Beach reports record beach revenue, highlights rescue and new beach controls
Summary
City officials credited new beach operations—single-entry ticketing, barcode passes and added supervisors—for improved safety and revenues; staff reported a water rescue where a victim was revived and taken to Mount Sinai Oceanside Campus, and enforcement produced over 1,200 municipal summonses this season.
Long Beach city officials on Sept. 2 credited new beach operations with safer conditions and sharply higher revenue after a summer of challenging weather. Assistant/deputy city manager Phil reported a water rescue on Lincoln Boulevard in which first responders found a person not breathing, regained a pulse, and transported the person to the Oceanside Campus at Mount Sinai.
Phil told the council the city implemented barcode beach passes, moved ticket booths to create single points of entry on the boardwalk, and hired additional supervisors—many retirees—to oversee ticket takers and cashiers. Those changes, he said, reduced improper beach entry, improved enforcement and made operations run more smoothly. Phil said the beach generated ‘‘approximately $5,000,000’’ in revenue this season, calling it the first time the city has reached that total.
Council members and members of the public asked for more detail about the financial numbers presented. Phil and staff provided three different comparative figures in the meeting record: a stated increase of ‘‘more than $640,000 in ticket sales’’ compared with last year and another reference that ‘‘during this period, we were up more than $810,000 compared to 2024.’’ The packet did not include an audited summary of these figures; staff characterized the numbers as preliminary.
Phil also reported stronger enforcement: ‘‘we issued over 1,200 VCO, municipal code summonses’’ for quality-of-life violations including alcohol, urinating, failure to display beach passes and smoking on the beach. Officials said cameras already at lifeguard stations and new cameras proposed for the boardwalk assisted in monitoring and crowd management, and that cameras were used in today’s water-rescue response.
The council praised staff and Phil at length for beach operations and thanked lifeguards, special police officers, and maintenance crews. Council members said they would not increase beach pricing in response to the higher revenues and emphasized continued attention to accessibility and safety—citizens at the meeting asked the city to expand Mobi Mats that allow wheelchair users to reach the shoreline.
The city will provide audited revenue and enforcement data to the council as they become available; Phil described the figures presented as preliminary.
