Merchants Apply Pier Pressure : Crime: Downtown San Clemente businessmen are demanding added police protection against a rising tide of problems they say are being caused by skinheads and rowdy skateboarders.

Worried over what they see as a rise in crime around the San Clemente Pier, a group of businessmen has banded together to demand more police patrols to safeguard one of this city’s primary tourist attractions.

“We’re barking and we’re barking loud,” said Bob Novello, operations manager for the Fisherman’s Restaurant atop the pier. “I think so far the incidents are isolated but if it gets any worse, if people hear about crime and trouble, then why should they come to the pier?”

Police and businessmen say most of the problems at the pier appear to be caused by local skinhead youths and rowdy skateboarders who paint graffiti on walls and businesses, and engage in petty vandalism.

Gary Swanson, a co-owner of Tropicana Bar and Grill, said that during a three-week period earlier this month, employees and customers of businesses at the pier were harassed, another restaurant’s truck was vandalized and graffiti began appearing in the area.

The merchants’ patience ran out when a Tropicana employee, Juan Dominguez, was savagely mugged by several men and robbed of $15 after leaving work about two weeks ago, Swanson said.

“That was the worst I have ever seen anyone beaten,” Swanson said. “It was malicious and unprovoked.”

Fed up with what they say is an increasingly destructive youth element making trouble in the area, seven pier merchants banded together as the Pier Bowl Merchants Assn. and called for an increased police presence at the pier.

“It’s a hassle dealing with these riffraff, teen-age punks,” said Chip Fleeman, manager of Cossano’s Pizza. “They stand in front of your store, make noise and loiter around. Customers don’t want to come in because they are intimidated.”

Recently, rocks were thrown through several windows of a van parked in the area. Merchants complain that youths have been flinging firecrackers into an underground pedestrian tunnel leading to the pier to frighten visitors. They also complain that tourists have been verbally harassed by youths hanging out by the pier or across the street.

Although a skinhead gang based in San Clemente has been blamed by police for several violent incidents in the past few months, including the beating of a transient the same night Dominguez was assaulted, police say that daytime visitors are not affected because trouble usually visits the pier after dark.

“We’ve stepped up our enforcement efforts in that vicinity,” said Police Chief Albert C. Ehlow. “We’ve issued several citations for skateboarding violations. Some of the alleged skinheads are skateboarders.”

Alarmed over the incidents, Mayor Candace Haggard vowed to crack down hard on the troublemakers to keep the pier area crime-free.

“This is something we cannot put up with . . . growing pockets of crime. The pier is a big part of our bread and butter. We cannot allow this to continue,” Haggard said.

Lt. Bill Trudeau said police have increased their presence at the pier after receiving complaints that residents, tourists and senior citizens were among those harassed by the skateboarders.

Capt. Lynn Hughes of the city marine safety division said some businessmen are worried that the problems of 15 years ago could return to the pier.

“The pier area was really run down (then),” Hughes said. “There was a really bad element down here and people were really afraid to come down here after hours.

“All these people have a pretty vivid recollection of the way it used to be,” Hughes added. “They’re concerned about it reverting back to the way it was.”

Trudeau and Novello say crime and harassment have decreased since the police began to issue citations for skateboarding and loitering. During the last week, officers have issued 15 citations and 20 warnings to “troublemakers.”

“The pier is for for families and visitors to feel free to use without being harassed,” Trudeau said. “We are returning it to the people.”

In San Clemente, the pier has always been a sensitive issue.

“The pier is a very special area because it’s part of our revitalized business district,” said Mimi Collier, executive director of the San Clemente Chamber of Commerce. “We are concerned whenever there is a criminal element in the community and we support the city in its anti-crime campaign (at the pier).”