By Nick Diamantides, Staff Writer
If three Long Beach City Councilmen have their way, starting next summer a “surf bus” may offer free rides to supervised beach activities for Long Beach youth. The councilmen–Patrick O’Donnell, Dee Andrews and Val Lerch–brought their idea to the full city council last week. The council voted unanimously to direct the city manager’s office to undertake a study on how such a program would work and how it would be funded and report back to the council within 60 days.
The potential program, modeled after LA Surf Bus, would aim to transport at-risk youth to the beach for surf lessons and marine education.
“I’m amazed at how many of our kids don’t regularly visit the ocean,” O’Donnell (4th District) said. “This is a great program which will engage and challenge our youth as well as give them a chance to learn at the beach.”
LA Surf Bus was created in 2003 with the goal of providing inner-city youth with access to the beach and water sport activities. Currently the program serves children ages 5 to 17 from challenging Los Angeles and Orange County neighborhoods.
The bus transports the youngsters and their adult supervisors to the beach where they spend the day having fun and learning new things. The bus also brings them back to their home town at the end of the day. The three locations visited by the youth groups are Santa Monica at Ocean Park, Dockweiler State Beach and Huntington Beach at Dog Beach.
At the beach, the group participates in a “Surf Academy” program that familiarizes them with the beach and ocean environments through safe, age-appropriate games and challenges that teach safety awareness. To participate, the kids must commit to one day a week for eight weeks during the summer months.
Through Surf Academy, the kids meet the lifeguards and learn about waves, tides and rip currents. They play beach and wave games, build sandcastles and learn beach arts and crafts. They also learn how to body surf and use a surfboard.
Because the waves at Long Beach are so small, city officials do not yet know if Surf Bus will take kids to the city’s own beaches or beaches with bigger waves. The program may be funded through Proposition A funds received by the county, or other non-general fund sources.
“The kids in the central area are learning how to swim at the new MLK Pool 20 blocks from the beach,” Andrews (6th District) said. “Yet most have never seen the ocean or walked on the sand.”
“Anything we can do to facilitate bringing kids to see the coastline and our beautiful beaches is an effort I want to support,” Lerch (9th District) added.
O’Donnell noted that providing kids with wholesome recreational activities helps keep them out of trouble and benefits everyone. “This is a great way to keep kids busy by getting them to the beach, educating them about the environment, engaging them in water activities and allowing them to just have fun,” he said.
The council will not take further action on this matter until receiving the report from the city manager’s office.
