Daily Pilot:  05.13.03

This article appeared on the Daily Pilot Front Page, May 13, 2003:

Partyers Plan Protest at Council

By June Casagrande

NEWPORT BEACH  Residents opposed to a city crackdown on Fourth of July revelry face one major obstacle tonight:  the Laker game.

The strength of the pro-drinking, pro-partying political contingent is that there's never a shortage of people who want the government to keep its hands off their efforts to have a good time. But their weakness is that sometimes having a good time today is a higher priority than fighting for the right to have fun tomorrow.

Tonight's City Council meeting will be a case in point as members of FreeNewport.com rally supporters to come out to the meeting right in the middle of a Laker game.

"It's going to be a challenge, considering the Laker game," said Bryan Clarkson, spokesman for the group that's fighting city restrictions on West Newport Fourth of July parties. "We hope they get off the couch, take a few minutes during the game, and turn out at the meeting."

Turnout or no turnout, Clarkson said he would submit to the city clerk's office before tonight's meeting about 1,000 signatures opposing two council motions to crack down on drunken mayhem in West Newport on the Fourth of July.

The council will consider adopting an ordinance to establish a "safety enhancement zone" in West Newport, a slight variation on the city's annual practice of increasing fines, adding a police presence and tightening laws in West Newport Beach.

The zone refers to the area within the Pacific Ocean on the south, 32nd Street and Newport Boulevard on the east, Pacific Coast Highway on the north and 54th Street on the west.

From 12:01 a.m. on July 4 until 3 a.m. on July 5, tougher-than-normal laws exist in this zone. Fines are stiffer, deliveries of liquor shipments are not allowed, and it increases "the responsibilities of the owners of short-term lodgings and require(s) immediate termination of certain activities upon request of a peace officer."

Clarkson takes issue with the council's emphasis on activities on private property, noting that most of the out-of-town troublemakers are the heavy-drinking revelers walking the street. But city officials believe the move is warranted.

"Many of the serious altercations have resulted from the interaction between partygoers on private property and persons on the street, and officers need an effective way to maintain control of persons on both public and private property," City Attorney Bob Burnham wrote in staff report.

The second Fourth of July-related action will be the first reading of a proposed ordinance to forbid stores from using their parking lots to store and sell liquor - a practice that has allowed a lot of retailers to do more business.

If the council passes the ordinances - which seems likely - Clarkson and company have vowed on their Web site to fight to take them down in the next City Council election.

Mayor Steve Bromberg said that the group's objection hasn't changed his mind about supporting strict rules for the area on Independence Day.

";We are absolutely committed to protecting person and property in West Newport and on the [BalboaPeninsula] on the Fourth of July," Bromberg said. "I think what we're doing is appropriate and responsible under the circumstances