Authorities in Santa Barbara County aim to deflate Floatopia, a
mega-party set for Saturday that has exploded over the last few years
with the aid of social media websites.
Officials told county supervisors Tuesday that they plan to close
access points to popular beaches in Isla Vista, near UC Santa Barbara,
this weekend. Last year, as many as 12,000 revelers converged on the
narrow strip of sand in a day of what county parks director Dan
Hernandez called "unmitigated chaos."
Deputies handed out 78 citations for alcohol-related crimes and made 13
arrests, Sheriff Bill Brown said. Thirty-three participants required
hospital treatment for alcohol poisoning, heat exposure and cuts from
broken bottles. Two of them toppled off the bluffs that border the
beach.
Started about five years ago with several hundred people drinking just
offshore on rubber rafts and inner tubes, the celebration has been a
barely planned rite of spring, with no formal sponsor, security
measures or provisions for emergency aid. It has inspired similar
events, most notably in San Diego.
In Santa Barbara, the 2009 edition was bigger — and, to county
officials, more environmentally damaging — than before: "Without
restroom facilities, many attendees simply used the ocean, creating a
large concentration of human waste that threatened sea life," according
to a statement from the Sheriff’s Department.
–Steve Chawkins
Photo: Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Department