The Party’s Over in Palm Springs; Youths Take Home Souvenir Tickets

Sunburned, hung over and hoarse from whooping it up day and night, thousands of youths drifted out of this desert resort community Sunday as the annual invasion of students on spring break receded.

They left with plenty of souvenirs, including fistfuls of citations for playing radios too loudly, jaywalking or even having darkly tinted windows in their cars.

Meanwhile, bleary-eyed police gratefully returned to normal duty after working temporary 12-hour shifts among the bathing suit-clad throngs of students who clogged sidewalks and streets designed for window shoppers.

It had been a busy week for police, whose marching orders included writing tickets for the slightest infraction. The get-tough strategy was designed to prevent a repeat of a bottle-throwing melee last year.

By all accounts, the strategy worked. Students were boisterous, but peaceful.

Since the students hit town April 10, police handed out 4,943 citations, arrested 708 people and picked up 246 youths on curfew violations, authorities said.

“Everything worked like an army fighting a battle,” said Mayor Frank Bogert at a press briefing Sunday. “They (police) did very well.”

The plan was so successful, Bogert added, that he would like to greet next year’s hordes with a similar show of force.

Bad for Business

Nonetheless, some merchants had complained that publicity over the rash of citations made some of their older, wealthier customers afraid to come to town.

Partly in response to such complaints, Chamber of Commerce officials plan to create a committee of business representatives that will devise a way of promoting Palm Springs next year as a place where families can go without fear.

About 15,000 people a day visited Palm Springs during the traditional 10-day influx of students, according to the best figures available. Andy Fisichelli, water quality control supervisor for the city, based those figures on the amount of water flowing through the city’s sewer system.

By week’s end, some students had come to regard their tickets for violations--ranging from not wearing a seat belt to drinking in public--as a badge of honor. A few even pinned their tickets to their shirts or propped them up on dashboards.

“The good thing about living out of town is that you can make confetti out of them when you go home,” said one young man, who had been ticketed for playing a radio too loudly.

“I certainly wouldn’t advise that,” said Fred Donnell, spokesman for the Palm Springs Police Department. “The court is taking these tickets very seriously . . . and will issue warrants for failure to appear.”

Julie Baumer, spokeswoman for the City of Palm Springs, said some of the money generated by fines associated with the tickets will be used to recover $260,000 spent on overtime salaries for police.

“If everyone pays their fines, which is doubtful, we’ll get about $50,000,” Baumer said.