Petaluma targets teen hangout

Petaluma police answered 405 calls for service to the Water Street area in 2007, up from 308 in 2006. Officers made 37 arrests last year, including 19 during a two-week period before Christmas, up from 16 in all of 2006.Punk rock music blares from a portable stereo on downtown Petaluma's Water Street, where Jamie Biggers and friends prepare to ring in yet another Friday night.

Compared with weeks past, the promenade along the Petaluma River is nearly deserted, perhaps a result of a pre-Christmas crackdown that resulted in 19 arrests on drug and alcohol charges in an area frequented by teenagers and young adults.

But the night is young. A concert up the street is expected to draw a crowd. Shops and restaurants on nearby Petaluma Boulevard are starting to bustle.

Besides, kids in Petaluma have no place else to go, Biggers said.

"I don't completely understand what the police are doing," said Biggers, 16, clad in a studded leather jacket, a band called "Choking Victim" screaming from the boom box. "I guess they're on a power trip or something."

Driven by complaints from merchants about drug-dealing, vandalism, fights and public intoxication, police calls to the Water Street area rose sharply in 2007. The department answered 405 calls for service last year, up from 308 calls in 2006, Lt. Joe Edwards said.

Officers made 37 arrests, up from 16 arrests the previous year, Edwards said.

Nineteen of last year's arrests came during a two-week crackdown before Christmas.

Plainclothes officers watched people selling cocaine and marijuana, drinking and, in one case, stealing a bicycle.

"People are tired of all the nonsense going on down there," Petaluma Police Capt. Dave Sears said. "It's every night."

Like most cities, Petaluma has long struggled with how to deal with teens who gravitate to downtown haunts such as Water Street and nearby Putnam Plaza.

Water Street can draw up to 50 teenagers and young adults on weekend nights, according to area business owners.

"I've opened up in the morning to find empties on the patio and graffiti all over the place," said Stephanie Rastetter, who owns Water Street Bistro. "I don't know if it's all from the kids, but they certainly do hang out. Sometimes the smell of marijuana wafts in. It makes people uncomfortable, especially if there's a big group."

Adding to problems is the presence of several bars within a few blocks that have off-sale liquor and spill rowdy patrons onto the promenade.

A New Year's fight behind Gale's Central Club left a 22-year-old man with severe head injuries. Near the same spot in December 2006, a Petaluma man was stabbed to death in a brawl. The suspect, who is awaiting trial, was 16 at the time.

The city responded to recent troubles by removing benches where teenagers might loiter. Police plan more sweeps on an as-needed basis.

The Petaluma Downtown Association is a few months away from installing surveillance cameras that will cover all of Water Street and be "sufficient to prosecute someone," board member Jeff Mayne said.

"The message is, if you can't behave yourself, we're going to make your life miserable," Sears said.

Young people who frequent the area say they aren't out of line. And merchants like Wayne Morganthaler, owner of Jungle Vibes, a toy store, say the complaints are overblown.

Jackie Carr, 17, said police harass young people because they are young, not because they are doing anything wrong.

"Most of the stuff down there is all rumors," Carr said.

Rodney Thompson, 22, said his friends get blamed for problems caused by drunken bar customers. He said police take one look at him and assume he's a criminal.

"It's messed up," said Thompson, who has been arrested at least once on suspicion of public intoxication. "They're taking the one place we can go."

You can reach Staff Writer Paul Payne at 762-7297 or paul.payne@pressdemocrat.com.