Richmond residents sick of side shows in their neighborhood

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Those who live on Moyers Road in Richmond say it's mostly a quiet, friendly neighborhood, but with prominent scars visible at two intersections.

They are tire tracks from joy riding drivers spinning donuts and staging sideshows.

"It's outrageous," said neighbor Lynette Robinson. Parents say it happens so often they worry about their kids even being in the front yard.

"I don't let her go outside. We watch her, not let her walk outside," Pooneh Barnett said about her four-year-old daughter.

Neighbors say it's like a plague that comes on suddenly several times a week. Sometimes a few, sometimes more. They say it happens often in the evening,

"One time I was pregnant with her, they did it in front of my car. I was at the stop sign. I was praying they don't lose control," said Barnett. 

During one sideshow last January near Marina Bay Parkway. A Richmond police officer was injured trying to break it up.  

Those who live on Moyers Road say they've complained to the city and to police. 

"They don't see it as an issue. Like it was harming. They see it more like the 'Dukes of Hazzard'. Racing kids and that is that," said Robinson.

The city did install a speed bump a few years ago. But neighbors say it really hasn't helped. They say what would help would be a traffic island.

Richmond Mayor Tom Butt told us by phone many neighborhoods want traffic islands and that the city would study Moyers, but that it "won't happen overnight."

It all leaves neighbors here wondering what more they can do. One man reached out to KTVU and sent pictures.

"When they are hitting telephone poles and tires are flying off, it is getting dangerous," said Robinson.

Police say a lot of incidents are over before they can get there, but that they do frequently run enforcement operations in neighborhoods.  And that they do take the problem seriously.