City mulls less booze, more cops

June Casagrande

Less booze and more police. That’s the first phase of the city’s plan

for reining in West Newport rowdiness.

The City Council will consider Tuesday two measures to limit

drinking-related chaos in West Newport and on the peninsula,

especially around the Fourth of July.

In past years, some liquor, grocery and convenience stores in West

Newport have had such a demand for alcohol sales that they have set

up sales space in their parking lots, bringing in truckloads of

liquor and setting up temporary storage areas outside their stores.

That practice will dry up immediately if the council, as expected,

agrees to amend to the city’s Alcoholic Beverage Outlet Ordinance.

“We have seen some cases of stores setting up kegs outside and

some set up liquor sales outside,” City Manager Homer Bludau said.

“This puts a little control on that. We don’t want to expedite the

sales of liquor, and liquor should not receive a higher priority than

bread or milk.”

A second item to be considered by the council would step up

citywide DUI police patrols and checkpoints now regularly conducted

by the city.

The routine vote is simply to accept and authorize spending of a

$78,098 grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety. The money

will be used to add a two-person patrol team on Friday and Saturday

nights from May to the end of September and in peak holiday drinking

times, from late November until New Year’s Day. The money will also

fund some additional DUI checkpoints.

“Our concern is always preventing accidents and providing for the

safety of residents,” Police Department spokesman Steve Shulman said.

DUI checkpoints are used as primarily an educational tool, letting

potential drunk drivers know that the law is being enforced, Shulman

said. Patrol teams of police officers are out to enforce the law by

catching drunk drivers.

DUI checkpoints have been set up on Jamboree Road and also on

Newport Boulevard near Lido Avenue. The city is required to publicly

announce DUI checkpoints before they are set up and customarily does

so by publishing notices in the newspaper.

City leaders have vowed to do whatever they can to curtail crime

and bad behavior in West Newport on the Fourth of July. Other

strategies are being considered, including ways to shift the balance

of residents in the area from renters to owners , but officials don’t

yet know when plans will come before the City Council.

* JUNE CASAGRANDE covers Newport Beach and John Wayne Airport.

She may be reached at (949) 574-4232 or by e-mail at

[email protected].