'Don't come to Antioch': Illegal sideshow crackdown coming Memorial Day weekend

ANTIOCH, Calif. (KGO) -- Antioch Mayor Lamar Thorpe has a message for anyone planning a sideshow in his city over Memorial Day weekend, "Don't come to Antioch. You are going to be found and you are going to be held accountable."

The intersection of Lone Tree Way and Bluerock Drive continues to be a hot spot for sideshows, evident with the skid marks that line the intersection. It's also an intersection that is very close to homes.

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"Oh, they are horrible! I can hear them from my bedroom window. And I didn't realize they were this close," says Alishia Penn. Her family lives within walking distance of the intersection.

She says not just about the noise, but that it is also dangerous.

"It is so disheartening because this is the main artery of our community. We have a fire station right there. What if someone is having a medical emergency, and needs the fire station? They want to come out here act like total buffoons and hold the community hostage," says Penn.

Some cities like Pittsburg have put traffic measures in place to cut down on drivers doing donuts, such as permanent traffic cones to block the intersection. But the city is joining forces with Antioch, Brentwood and Oakley to crackdown on big-scale events over the holiday weekend.

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Mayor Thorpe says sideshows have a history in the Bay Area dating back to the 1980s. But he adds, that the tricks and the risks the drivers take have become more dangerous, which puts spectators at risk, too.

"It has become more unsafe as people have gravitated toward cell phones and wanting to film every last thing that takes place. And so that's what makes it extremely dangerous, is that obviously, people get too close," said Thorpe.

He says police are taking proactive steps to stop sideshows before they even start.

"As a matter of fact, this past Saturday there was a planned sideshow. We disrupted it, shut it down, and it didn't happen," he says.

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Oakland is implementing a new strategy to deter sideshows from happening in some of their busiest intersections.

The mayor warns that citations and fines this weekend can cost sideshow drivers thousands of dollars and that vandals will be arrested.

"It may not happen that night, but our drone technology and our cameras we have throughout the city are going to find you. And you are going to be held accountable," says Mayor Thorpe.

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