Cyber Cafe Laws OKd in Santa Ana Are Not as Strict as Garden Grove’s

Santa Ana’s City Council approved permanent regulations for cyber cafes Monday night, requiring new security measures that were prompted by a recent outbreak of violence linked to cyber cafes in neighboring Garden Grove.

Business owners must install security cameras and hire guards under the new city ordinance regulating the cafes, which rent computers to a mostly young clientele who play video games and chat with friends online.

Mark Nichols, a representative from Busquelo Aqui, one of the businesses affected, said his company opposes having to pay for the added security measures. “There has never been a single incident [of crime], and I do not expect it,” he said.

Countered Councilwoman Claudia C. Alvarez: “We do want to be preventative. The last thing we want is for someone to be killed around the corner from your business.”

The council decided against adopting stricter regulations similar to those recently imposed in Garden Grove, which require minors to leave the cafes by 8 p.m. and mandate that business owners log in customers. The Garden Grove ordinance is being challenged in court by cafe owners.

“Santa Ana’s ordinance is different than Garden Grove’s, and I think it is more flexible and I think it is legal,” said Ben Kaufman, Santa Ana chief assistant city attorney. Santa Ana also will not require businesses to get a conditional-use permit, as Garden Grove does.

The Santa Ana measure was approved 6 to 0, with council member Brett Franklin absent. A final vote will be cast Sept. 3, and if approved again, the measure will go into effect Oct. 3, Kaufman said. The new permanent ordinance would replace interim rules put into place six weeks ago. Businesses would have until Jan. 3 to comply.

Cyber cafe hours have captured public attention because two recent homicides linked to Garden Grove establishments. On June 8, 14-year-old Edward Fernandez was followed from a cyber cafe and shot to death, and in December, a 20-year-old was stabbed to death after leaving another cafe.

In response, Garden Grove imposed new restrictions on the cafes in July. However, this month, cafe owners convinced a Superior Court judge to issue a temporary restraining order halting implementation of the ordinance.

The judge was concerned that the measure infringed on free speech rights and also might cause irreparable financial damage to cafe owners. He ordered the city and business owners to try to reach a compromise.

There are about 18 cyber cafes in Garden Grove.

Santa Ana, which has only four cyber cafes, established an interim ordinance last month that required new cyber businesses to close by midnight, close to minors by 8 p.m. on school nights and 10 p.m. otherwise. New businesses were required to install surveillance cameras.

The permanent ordinance relaxes the limitations on teen visitors. No matter the day, they can stay until 10 p.m., the same time as the city’s teen curfew, Kaufman said.