Oxnard Council Bans Youths’ Sunday Night Cruising : Police: The city says the ritual has become too violent and costly, but supporters of the weekly tradition say it provides an outlet for young people.

The Oxnard City Council has put the brakes on Sunday night cruising, saying the weekly ritual has become too violent and too costly.

Council members voted 3 to 1 Tuesday in support of a new city ordinance that will mean the end of cruising along a mile-long strip of Saviers Road in south Oxnard. The ban, to be enforced at the discretion of Police Chief Harold Hurtt, will go into effect after mid-October.

The ordinance also empowers Hurtt to ban cruising in other areas of the city.

Councilman Manuel Lopez voted no. Mayor Nao Takasugi was absent.

The council also lent its support to a committee that is looking for alternative youth activities.

“We don’t want to get rid of cruising per se,” said Councilwoman Dorothy Maron at a heated public hearing. “We will come up with a solution, and I promise you that.”

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

But supporters of Sunday night cruising said the rowdy, slow-moving spectacle provides an outlet for hundreds of teen-agers who have a lot of time on their hands but who don’t have a lot of money. Many at the hearing accused the council of seeking to eliminate a tradition deeply rooted in Oxnard’s Latino culture. Most of the youths who take part in the Sunday night ritual are Latinos.

“How you treat this matter of cruising will be an indication, actually a confirmation, of your attitudes toward the Hispanic population,” Oxnard resident Mike Espinosa told council members. “The vast majority of cruisers are Chicano. The fact remains that Chicanos are not treated the same as others in this city.”

But Hurtt said the effort to ban cruising, which has occurred in various areas of the city since the 1950s, was conceived as the cruising strip became more violent over the years.

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

On Sunday nights, more than 300 cars from as far away as San Luis Obispo and San Bernardino go bumper-to-bumper along a popular stretch of Saviers Road.

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

Last year, officers made 609 arrests on Saviers Road on Sundays between 9 p.m. and 2 a.m. contrasted with 470 arrests in other areas of Oxnard during the same period.

In the first six months of this year, 245 arrests were made on Saviers Road during the cruising hours contrasted with 205 for the rest of the city.

“We have citizens down there who, when the sun goes down, lock their doors and pull down their shades,” said Roy Lockwood, who supported the cruising ban. “They are afraid to open their doors, and when they answer the door, they answer it with a gun in their hand.”

In 1990, when cruising wasn’t considered to be a problem and police described cruisers as well-mannered, police made 336 arrests on Saviers Road during Sunday night cruising contrasted with 624 arrests citywide.

Cruise night in recent years has attracted out-of-town gang members who deal drugs and drive drunk, Hurtt said, adding that many cruisers litter and use private lawns as public bathrooms.

The ordinance adopted by the City Council on Tuesday will establish a “No Cruising Zone,” where 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 town, more anti-cruising zones could be established.