Laserfiche WebLink
Despite the preparation of the proposed permanent ordinance, without <br />extension of the interim development regulations of the interim ordinance, <br />properties in the City could quickly receive entitlements to establish cyber <br />cafes despite the fact that the City Council has determined that the Code <br />is in need of updating and has directed that a study be done to <br />recommend new standards and revise the Code to address concerns <br />created to cyber cafes. <br /> <br />Cyber cafes' activities are frequently associated with detrimental impacts <br />to the surrounding area. Neighboring cities have experienced violent <br />criminal activity associated with the cyber cafes. Neighboring jurisdictions <br />have reported incidents including but not limited to, shootings, stabbings, <br />assaults, drug and gambling offenses, truancy, curfew violations, loitering <br />and gang related offensives. <br /> <br />Garden Grove's City Council received a report dated December 31, <br />2001, from the Garden Grove Police Department documenting a <br />number of crime and gang related activities occurring in and about <br />cyber cafes within the City of Garden Grove. The report <br />documented that within the last twelve months a number of crime <br />incidents, including but not limited to, felonious assaults, probation <br />violations, and possession of illegal drugs have occurred at these <br />cyber cafe business locations. <br /> <br />On June 8, 2002, Edward Fernandez, age 14, was followed from a <br />Garden Grove cyber cafe and shot to death. <br /> <br />In the City of Garden Grove, on December 30, 2001, Phoung Huu <br />Ly, age 20, died after he was stabbed in the head with a <br />screwdriver in the parking lot of a cyber cafe. <br /> <br />Gang related incidents have been occurring in association with <br />cyber cafes. According to Officer Kovacs, a gang unit officer in the <br />City of Garden Grove Police Department, a cyber cafe customer <br />was stabbed after being rushed by a group of suspected gang <br />members who traced him down from another cyber cafe. <br /> <br />City of Costa Mesa Police Lt. Ron Smith has stated "The violence <br />stems largely from the competitiveness of the computer games <br />spilling over into the street" and "gang members have been known <br />to travel from one cyber cafe to another to settle scores or avenge <br />insults sent via the Internet." Lt. Smith summarized the problems <br />encountered by other law enforcement agencies in Southern <br />California by cyber cafes as "murder, drive-by shootings, assaults, <br />organized-crime money laundering, identity theft, computer <br /> <br />Ordinance No. NS-2512 <br />Page 2 of 5 <br /> <br /> <br />