When making money goes hand-in-hand with vomit

The scene of downtown Fullerton in Orange County has turned from a hub for antique shopping to a fraternity party. The city of Fullerton can’t tame the beast it has created because it’s not taking the correct measures.

The once sleepy downtown is now home to upscale restaurants and bars that have customers waiting in lines around the block. Business owners and city officials welcome the business that downtown brings but not the problems that come with it.

Over the last year, a cab driver was attacked and killed allegedly by a man who was partying at the downtown bars and three people were involved in an accident that killed the driver of the vehicle whose blood alcohol level was over the legal limit.

Fullerton is turning in to a place where fighting, vomiting, urinating in public and driving drunk are commonplace. The city has tried to control its bar and nightclub scene by assigning four police officers to the area and putting a hold on new liquor licenses for six months, but to no avail.

So who are these party animals that are causing problems for a city that has nearly 50 establishments serving alcohol in a four-block radius? They’re not even from Fullerton or Orange County. Police say those that have been arrested for various crimes in the downtown area are from the Inland Empire and Los Angeles County.

As for the cherry on top, the city has raked in a $1.5 million bill in police, fire and maintenance costs while only puling in $560,000 in taxes.

In order to curb the areas alcohol-related problems, a new law will take effect next month which will limit inside and outside noise, enforce tighter security, cut wait lines and issue conditional-use permits for restaurants that turn into clubs at night.

A Fullerton City Councilwoman was quoted in the Los Angeles Times saying, “We didn’t put the conditions on them because we needed them. And suddenly we’ve got this little baby that we ignored and she’s turned into this naughty teenager. Now we’re making some rules, trying to get that teenager into adulthood without getting killed.”

It appears that the Fullerton City Council has overlooked one key move that could help booster police enforcement: raise taxes. For the obvious reasons, raising taxes would help improve the management of the downtown bars and clubs.

Instead of asking people to step out of line or turn the music down, let the law enforcement handle the riff-raff. With any place that gains popularity, there are going to be pros and cons, but business and commerce shouldn’t have to suffer. There is a way to allow progress and revenue to continue, and allowing some intoxicated reveler to vomit or urine on the sidewalk every once in a while just comes with the territory.