NATIONAL CITY, Calif. — Calling for an end to National City's 'No Cruising Ordinance,' members of the United Lowrider Coalition met in the First Baptist Church parking lot to say they are stunned the city is ordering the organization to pay more than $8,000 in policing fees, in order to hold their Friday night cruise.
"We have to repeal this law today! Ahora,” said Aida Castaneda, United Lowrider Coalition political advisor.
The first lowrider cruise held in National City in more than 30 years was on May 6. It attracted hundreds of classic cars as people lined the streets to see them up close. It was 14-year-old Trinity Garcia's first cruise.
"May 6th had changed my life. Before I had only heard of my mom's and dad's stories of Highland Avenue. Now, to know that it is canceled, hurt my heart it is not fair,” Garcia said.
Despite no crimes reported from the event, it got pushback from some community members during last week's National City Council meeting who said cruising "promoted and glorified gangs."
Although Mayor Alejandra Sotelo-Solis rode in a lowrider at the cruise and supports bringing cruising back, she says the event, under Temporary Use Permit guidelines, requires a steep resource fee that all permit holders pay.
"We had that guaranteed to not have to pay a cent to cruise on Friday nights on Highland Avenue,” said United Lowrider Coalition leader, Jovita Arellano.
Arellano says she feels betrayed by the city now requiring at least $8,000 to $18,000 in fees per cruise that would include costs for public works, signage and Caltrans.
"We cannot afford that. We are volunteers. We don’t charge for anybody to cruise down Highland Avenue, and we do not make any money off of this. Why should we have to pay to drive down our streets?” Arellano said.
The United Lowrider Coalition will cancel all of its future cruises on Highland Avenue.
"That was really tough for us to come to this decision, but we felt like we needed to take a stand,” Arellano said.
Sal Nafsu, owner of La Casa Liquor for 27 years says the cruise would boost local business.
"It used to be held on every Sunday, and we never paid a penny before, so why do we have to pay for them to come back?" Nafsu said.
National City councilmember Jose Rodriguez, who is running for mayor, says his measure for the city to help pay for the cruises got voted down.
“Continue to fight this thing through all the way until the end and really makes substantive changes past November,” Rodriguez said.
Lowrider lover Marcos Arellano, known as Mr. Rabbit, with a tattoo of Bugs Bunny on his wrist, says he just wants a chance to cruise his 1962 red Impala without any fees attached.
“The law needs to go away, the signs need to come down, and we need to be able to go back out there and have fun on a public street,” Arellano said.
Mayor Alejandra Sotelo-Solis says in a statement:
"This is not a 'City of National City versus cruising' issue. This issue is about an event & temporary use permit that was re-evaluated as needing to address the safety of community, transportation impacts and congestion.
I was personally contacted by businesses & organizations who stated they would help pay or help fundraise for the fees.
It saddens me that the United Lowrider Coalition continues to choose to make their decisions via the media & not through the City ad-hoc committee or city staff who were all willing to help make this a success event. It is their decision but as we saw earlier this week, we must have public safety at the forefront."
WATCH RELATED: National City imposes nearly $8K fee to United Lowrider Coalition (May 2022)