Commentary: Give the police tools to tame peninsula nightlife
In his commentary, Michael Glenn (“No one will explain need for Balboa overlay,” Feb. 24) challenges Newport Beach and its residents to explain why the city needs to look at the possibility of giving the Police Department additional tools to deal with the problems that face residents and businesses of the Balboa Peninsula.
Glenn asked why the peninsula should be singled out and why establishments that sell alcohol should be targeted. Unfortunately, Glenn and many others, including, sadly, most of the City Council, the staff and Police Department, lack the historical perspective to fully understand the problems faced uniquely on the peninsula.
Almost 20 years ago, we went through a similar situation. — but things got completely out of hand. At that time, the area had about 10 bars and nightclubs that formed a triangle connecting Woody’s Wharf and Cassidy’s, the Cannery and Snug Harbor and Malarky’s, the Brewery and what is now Rudy’s.
From 10 p.m. on, on any given night, people in their 20s and 30s (sometimes as many as 25 in a group) would go from one bar to another, breaking windows, urinating, shouting and yelling with no regard to anyone else, including residents and other business owners.
It took a group of residents going out and videotaping these activities and bringing the evidence to the council and Police Department to convince officials that there was a problem. The city ended up having to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in extra man-hours to get a handle on it.
The peninsula is an attractive place to have a good time, but the incredibly large number of businesses with liquor licenses is also the root of the problem.
It is the duty of the city to find a balance between the needs of liquor-license owners and other people who live and work in the area. It is not about taking away rights of business owners. It is about making sure those operators are being responsible to their community.
I applaud the efforts of Councilwoman Diane Dixon. (“It’s time for us to solve the peninsula’s problems,” Commentary, Feb. 27) to do just that.
Giving the Police Department additional tools to reach that balance, without infringing on the rights of operators who responsibly run their businesses, is the right thing to do.
Cannery Village resident JAMES ‘BUZZ’ PERSON was a Newport Beach planning commissioner from 1983 to 1991.