SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sacramento city leaders held a traffic safety town hall to address concerns and try to find solutions to the growing problem with sideshows.
"That is just a constant worry of mine… it makes it so that I can't actually walk on Folsom Boulevard in fear of safety issues," said Leni Lopez-Nguyen, a College Green resident and mother who attended the meeting.
She says she hears sideshows nightly and they pick up in the summertime.
"[Sideshows] usually happen at 9 p.m. to 2 a.m.,” she said. "There's the schools first credit union next to my house, and it has had someone run into it two times in the last year."
Shirley Chand has captured reckless drivers on her Meadowview home surveillance cameras. She’s not far from Delta Shores which is a popular spot for larger sideshows involving hundred of cars, Sacramento police say.
Mayor Pro Tem Mai Vang and Vice Mayor Eric Guerra say cracking down on reckless driving and sideshows will take time.
“It's going to take all of us a really holistic approach from the state, local level [and] our community to really change behaviors and changes what's happening," said Vang.
During the town hall, current policies and action areas for solutions were discussed — including looking closer at city ordinances to issue penalties or fines for damage caused by sideshow activities.
Guerra says these actions have changed behavior before.
Neighbors are ready for that change.
“I believe that whether you are a homeowner, a renter, someone who lives in an apartment or someone who is unhoused, it is something that affects us all and needs to be addressed by the city," said Lopez-Nguyen.
Sacramento isn’t the only city suffering from these sideshows and reckless driving. Just last month, a Stockton police officer had minor injuries after trying to break up a sideshow. 22-year-old Moses Johnson was also shot and killed when watching a sideshow in Stockton, according to his mother.