Santa Cruz cracking down on ‘problem businesses’

The Santa Cruz Police Department is cracking down on “problem businesses”: those that get a high number of police service calls.

Fred Friedman has been running the Blue Lounge Bar off Seabright Avenue for two years. The bar is open until 2 a.m. he said he’s happy to hear police are targeting the more rowdy bars.

“I don’t think it’s a good sign for a business to get a lot of police calls,” said Friedman.

City leaders agreed and on Tuesday, the city night council amended the High Risk Alcohol Outlet Ordinance to reclassify 18 businesses from low risk to high risk.

“High risk would be a restaurant that has full entertainment, hours that exceed midnight, that are a significant environmental impact for the neighbors and also a public safety impact,” said Deputy Chief Rick Martinez.

Police say they get an aveage they get 176 calls for service for businesses open past midnight. That’s a lot compared to businesses closed by midnight, with only 11 calls for service on average.

“We currently have 249 on-and-off sale premises in our city, that’s a significant number above recommended from the Alcoholic Beverage Control and probably one of the highest in the state,” said Martinez.

The amendment also increase annual fees for those high-risk businesses and cuts out the planning commission. That means police can act faster when it comes to enforcement.

But for bars like the Blue Lounge, Friedman said he already works with authorities to keep the riff raff out.

“We have security cameras inside, we check all IDs, we don’t allow people that exhibit anti-social behavior to stay here,” said Friedman.

Police said there are six problem bars in the city. In the meantime, the changes will not go into affect until March.