PD Editorial: Putting up a stop sign for sideshows

Kudos to Santa Rosa police for ratcheting up their response to sideshows — those dangerous and noisy exhibitions of stunt driving that are tearing up streets and disrupting neighborhoods.

Over the past several years, as late-night sideshows revved up into a continual nuisance in and around Santa Rosa, authorities went from watching warily to actively intervening before drivers could take over an intersection and start burning rubber or spinning donuts.

This past weekend, police shifted into yet a higher gear. Having failed to head off a sideshow in Santa Rosa’s Railroad Square Historic District, officers set up roadblocks to keep the participants from leaving. Police arrested seven people and impounded nine cars.

“Our community has been outspoken,” Santa Rosa’s new police chief, John Cregan, told the editorial board. “We can’t allow this dangerous behavior to occur in Santa Rosa.”

Cregan’s firm stance is fully justified. Sideshows are hazardous to everyone involved. Police say the crowds tend to be young and, contrary to the usual stereotypes, racially and ethnically diverse. They may be looking to have some fun, perhaps to blow off some steam, but the results can be tragic.

Gunfire erupted at a May 6 sideshow in Roseland, leaving a man critically injured. Cregan said a spectator who was struck by a car during a Stony Point Road sideshow earlier this year recently died. On other occasions, cars were set on fire and sideshow spectators clashed with residents.

This issue is bigger than Santa Rosa. Sideshows took place in the East Bay for years and spread to San Jose and Sacramento and beyond. In Los Angeles this summer, authorities have repeatedly closed a brand new $588 million bridge to deter problems, including sideshows.

“It’s a state of California issue,” Cregan said. “So, more needs to be done.”

A good first step would be accelerating implementation of a state law that will allow judges to suspend a driver’s license for up to six months for participating in a sideshow. The law was passed last year, but the penalty doesn’t kick in until 2025.

“It’s a problem today,” Cregan said. “Waiting until 2025 has some real concerns.”

With the legislative session nearly over, there may not be enough time to pass a fix this year. Sonoma County’s legislators — state Sens. Bill Dodd and Mike McGuire and Assembly members Cecilia Aguilar-Curry and Jim Wood — should make it a priority when lawmakers reconvene after the election.

In the meantime, Santa Rosa officials are reviewing local options, such as installing raised dots and roundabouts to deter reckless driving, as well as surveillance cameras and license plate readers for enhanced law enforcement.

San Jose has an ordinance outlawing attendance at a sideshow. The Santa Rosa City Council Public Safety Subcommittee will take public input and discuss a similar measure at its 9 a.m. meeting Wednesday at City Hall.

Cregan also favors preventive efforts to educate local youth and parents about the danger posed by sideshows. “Just like gangs and everything else,” he said, “we’re not going to solve it only with law enforcement.” For now, however, strict enforcement of traffic laws is the best tool for protecting people from lawlessness on local streets.

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