Council Backs Ban on Sunday Cruising on Oxnard Streets : Ordinance: City will hold a hearing before taking action. La Colonia spokesman says panel may be acting too hastily.

The Oxnard City Council on Tuesday unanimously backed a proposed ordinance that would ban Sunday night cruising throughout the city.

Although no formal action was taken, council members said they supported eliminating the weekly ritual along a mile-long strip of Saviers Road in south Oxnard and in other areas of the city.

The council will hold a public hearing on the matter before taking final action.

“I think for my vote we should ban cruising altogether as other cities have done,” said Councilman Mike Plisky to applause from audience members. “I was on the council when we allowed it to continue and we were assured everything was going to be fine. I don’t think it has been.”

But Carlos Aguilera, president of La Colonia Neighborhood Council, said cruising may provide a healthy outlet for hundreds of teen-agers who have time to kill but who don’t have a lot of money.

He fears the council is acting too hastily.

“I’m opposed to any reactionary position taken by the council toward a minority constituency here in Oxnard,” said Aguilera, noting that many of the cruisers are Latinos. “I’m not going to take a position until all sensible alternatives have been investigated.”

Saying the potential for violence was too high, Police Chief Harold Hurtt announced last month that he would seek to ban the slow-moving spectacle, which has taken place in various areas of the city since the 1950s.

While other Southern California cities were blocking such activity, Oxnard was embracing the Sunday night tradition, saying it was a health alternative to gangs and drugs.

But in the past couple of years, Hurtt told council members, gang confrontations and other violent incidents have escalated.

In 1990, police made 336 arrests on Saviers Road on Sundays between 9 p.m. and 2 a.m., compared to 624 arrests in other areas of Oxnard during the same time period.

Last year, officers made 609 arrests on Saviers Road during Sunday night cruising compared to 470 arrests in other areas. In the first six months of this year, 245 arrests have been made on Saviers Road during cruising hours compared to 205 elsewhere.

Each cruise night costs taxpayers an average of $1,274, Hurtt said. An estimated $66,000 a year, and perhaps as much as $100,000 a year, goes just to police the activity.

Area merchants also complain that cruisers are bad for business, Hurtt said, and neighbors say that cruisers litter and use private lawns as public bathrooms.

“I think the most effective tool to ban cruising and the problems associated with it would be to pass an ordinance,” Hurtt said.

The new city law would establish “No Cruising Zones,” in which motorists repeatedly driving past stop lights or stop signs could be fined $100 for a first offense, $200 for a second violation and $250 for each subsequent violation.

If cruising moves to another part of the city, more anti-cruising zones could be established.

In recent months, Sunday night cruising has drawn a large number of out-of-town motorists and gang members who deal drugs and drink and drive.

“That’s a tough way to have to live,” said Councilwoman Dorothy Maron of area residents who are affected by the activity. “Anything we can do to alleviate or completely change the problem, I would be in favor of.”

Councilman Manny Lopez proposed creating an alternative activity for Oxnard cruisers.

“I think it’s pretty obvious that we cannot continue what we have now,” Lopez said. “I would like a committee to get together and see if there is some way we can preserve this form of recreation without it being a detriment to the community.”