Fullerton aims to rein in revelers
The city's once-sleepy downtown is now a destination for the young party crowd, with restaurants transforming into nightclubs after dark. New regulations take effect next month.
Fullerton Councilman Richard Jones remembers his sleepy downtown before upscale restaurants, trendy nightclubs and cocktail lounges began taking over the four-block district, and he knows he doesn't want to go back there again.
"Man, we had crosses in front of stores, it was so dead," he said. "It was known as the antique capital of Orange County."
But Jones doesn't like where his now-thriving downtown is headed either: a place where fighting, vomiting in the streets and intoxicated drivers have become so commonplace that the area is reeling toward being known as the drunk capital of Orange County.
"Fullerton is a good city, and it can't go to hell in a handbasket," he said. "But with all the drinking and tailgating and the urinating outside buildings, this place has become intolerable -- like the wild, wild West of 150 years ago. We've got to get things under control. If not, we may have to exhume Wyatt Earp."
Over the last year, city officials have tried to rein in their unruly bar and nightclub scene along Harbor Boulevard and Commonwealth Avenue by dedicating four police officers to the bustling district and putting a moratorium on new liquor licenses for six months. But neither measure tempered things. In fact, the problems may be getting worse.
A cab driver was attacked and killed in May, allegedly by a man who had been partying in the downtown bars. In September, three late-night revelers from the Riverside area were leaving downtown when their vehicle hit a median and rolled over -- killing the driver, whose blood alcohol level was over the legal limit.
Police say most of those arrested on suspicion of being intoxicated, urinating in public, vandalism or assault are not from Fullerton or even Orange County, but rather the Inland Empire and Los Angeles County.
With nearly 50 establishments serving liquor and many of them connected through rear parking lots, tailgating before heading into the bars has become popular.
"We've definitely become a destination, sort of a smaller version of the Gaslamp District in San Diego," said Fullerton Police Sgt. Linda King. "There's so many places close to each other, people are doing pub crawls from place to place."
Recently, Fullerton officials realized that downtown had become more trouble than it was worth, costing about $1.5 million annually in police, fire and maintenance costs while bringing in only $560,000 in taxes. After six months of community meetings and committee reports, the City Council unanimously passed an ordinance this month aimed at bringing a sense of order to downtown.
