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CALIFORNIA CITY - After playing host to more than 100,000 visitors
at its off-highway vehicle areas during the long Thanksgiving weekend,
California City officials are getting something of a breather this holiday
season.
"We're really low, actually, right now for the holidays," California
City Police Chief Steve Colerick said Monday.
He estimated about 6,000 to 7,000 visitors enjoyed the desert trails for the long weekend following Christmas, basically the same turnout as a normal weekend during the winter season.
"It's just been going through the motions and enjoying the beautiful weather," he said of patrolling the area.
The city had only minimal staffing over the holiday weekend at Borax Bill Park on Twenty Mule Team Road, the epicenter of off-road activity northeast of town.
Christmas visitors tend to be more family-oriented and quieter, Colerick said, and officials had things well in hand with only about three people on patrol.
The activity is expected to pick up in time for New Year's Eve, Colerick said, although without the numbers seen at Thanksgiving.
However, officials are gearing up for the next round, expected to start rolling into town early this week.
"The New Year's crowd is usually a little more on the boisterous side," Colerick said, with more calls related to alcohol consumption, weapons discharge and illegal campfires. With the holiday revelry, public safety officials have to be ready to take care of problems in the desert camping areas and within the city center, he said.
Despite smaller crowds of visitors, the Police Department sold "a huge amount" of the permits now required by the city for use of its trail areas.
"It overwhelmed us for about two hours," Colerick said, before officials were able to cope with the demand.
The permit fees support the Police Department's Desert Incident Response Team, which stations police and other public safety personnel in the off-road areas to the northeast of the city center during busy weekends to provide information and quicker emergency response.
Response to the permit program, which began in the spring, reportedly has been positive, with visitors thankful for the services the permit fees provide. The permit program has brought in some $100,000 as of the beginning of December, twice what the department originally projected.
"We're still fine-tuning the whole permit process to make it as efficient as possible," Colerick said, including looking at streamlining the application process and making purchasing permits online more accessible.