La Mesa, CA Public Conduct: Public Alcohol Use (2026)

Section 10.36.060(a) bars consuming 'any alcoholic beverage on any street, sidewalk, alley, highway, school property, public parking structure, public playground or park, or any property open to the public not licensed by for the consumption of alcoholic beverages' (the section's own wording, unedited). Possessing a receptacle that has been opened, has a broken seal, or is partly consumed creates 'a rebuttable presumption that the person possessing said receptacle is consuming its contents,' so an open container alone can support a citation. The section defines 'alcoholic beverage' by cross-reference to Business and Professions Code Section 23004 and lists examples: intoxicating liquor, malt beverage, beer, wine, spirits, liqueur, whiskey, rum, vodka, cordials, gin, brandy and any mixture containing one or more of them.

Section 10.36.060(b) exempts any city-sponsored event or an event under a city permit where the chief of police expressly authorizes drinking, which dovetails with the separate park-specific permit in Section 10.36.050 requiring a chief-of-police permit before any alcohol is possessed, transported or consumed in a city park or park building. Section 10.36.060(c) makes any violation of the section an infraction under Chapter 1.01 of the Municipal Code. The ban traces to Ordinance 2009-2804, adopted November 10, 2009, and sits alongside the older Section 10.36.020 through 10.36.040 intoxication provisions in the same Chapter 10.36 (Intoxication).