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Closure of California Beaches Sparks Legal Action

VOA News

   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."

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