TITLE
Recommendation to request the City Attorney to draft an ordinance banning cruising on Pine Avenue from Ocean Boulevard to Seventh Street and return to City Council in 30 days.
DISCUSSION
[Description/Discussion]
TIMING CONSIDERATIONS
[Timing Considerations]
FISCAL IMPACT
[Fiscal Impact]
SUGGESTED ACTION
Approve recommendation.
BODY
Visitors, businesses and residents along Pine Avenue complain that persons “cruising” Pine Avenue in their cars are creating unsafe conditions for pedestrians and motorists, contributing to traffic jams and detracting fi-om a positive dining and entertainment experience. Cruising is a decades old pastime having evolved in purpose and consequence generation after generation. Cruising can be simply defined as unnecessary repetitive driving without immediate destination (Goffman, Steven N., 2002). Persons engage in cruising for a variety of reasons: to display their cars, to see other people’s cars, to find racing competitors, to impress members of the opposite sex, to socialize, or simply to be around and on the lookout for possible social developments that may be intriguing. Cruising as we know it today is predominantly confined to downtown areas. While it is a seemingly harmless activity, cruising creates significant problems for public safety, economic development and community living.
This practice endangers pedestrians because the driver is often times more concerned with the activity on sidewalks than crosswalks and directly ahead of hisher automobile. It also contributes to the traffic jams
along Pine Avenue and frustrates those individuals who come downtown to patronize restaurants and businesses. Cruisers in cars with modified tale pipes and loud music also detracts from the positive experience of Pine Avenue, discouraging real customers from returning to downtown. A similar ordinance was approved by the City Council to ban cruising around Bixby Park as a means of protecting residents. This ordinance was eff...
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