NEWPORT BEACH : City Again Might Act to Check Rowdiness

The City Council will decide tonight whether to erect barriers that would keep cars off west Newport’s three main streets during the Fourth of July weekend.

If the City Council approves three resolutions, police will have the authority to close off sections of Balboa Boulevard, Newport Boulevard and Seashore Drive to auto traffic and erect chain-link fence barriers at three- to four-block intervals on those streets to curtail rowdy party traffic in the area.

“This will be the third year that we’ve done it. It was a real gamble the first year, but it so changed the atmosphere on Seashore,” said Councilwoman Janice A. Debay, whose district covers west Newport. “That was the first year that people who live on Seashore were able to have a peaceful holiday.”

Police could also step up enforcement of anti-party ordinances in city parking lots at Superior Avenue and West Coast Highway, City Hall, West Oceanfront Drive and two city-owned lots on Seashore Drive from 8 a.m. July 4 to 2 a.m. July 5.

The same lots could be used as Police or Fire Department staging areas if necessary.

Problems have been concentrated between 34th Street and 46th Street, but they sometimes extend as far as 54th Street, she said.

The idea is to prevent mobile parties and what the resolutions describe as “a de facto parade” in an area dominated by residents of summer rental units, Debay said.

The results of similar enforcement efforts the past two years have been successful, she said.