Halloween in the Castro on, but scaled down

By Erica Holt, Bay City News Service

August 9, 2006

SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) - San Francisco officials announced yesterday that rather than cancel the annual Castro neighborhood Halloween party to subdue community concerns over its growing size and perils, the city will shrink the event and keep safety a priority.

Supervisor Bevan Dufty suggested canceling the city-sponsored celebration, which in recent years has drawn thousands of people, because many in the surrounding community complained that it has grown too big and too dangerous for the neighborhood, according to Dufty's aide Rachelle McManus.

Following an Aug. 2 meeting with Dufty, Mayor Gavin Newsom, and other officials and community representatives, a plan emerged to reduce the event's size instead, as well as increasing the event's law enforcement presence.

Newsom said yesterday in a statement that he has directed emergency personnel to ramp up a public safety plan for the entire Castro neighborhood on Halloween.

He said he recognizes "that the size and magnitude of the crowds require that we expand the city's public safety presence and seek to reduce the overall attendance so that the event is more in scale with a neighborhood celebration, not a regional event.''

The city took over the six-block event about three ago, which started out as small community party 40 years ago, in an effort to curb public drunkenness and violence, following five stabbings during Halloween revelry in 2002.

Dufty's concern about Halloween solidified after a spate of violence during the June San Francisco Pride celebration and he felt there's no longer a way to manage the risk of an event as large as the Halloween party.

According to the Entertainment Commission, neighbors have complained about alcohol fueled parties in their neighborhood's side streets, a lot of noise, fistfights, and public urination.

Newsom said that city departments will continue to work out the final details of the celebration, including enforcing prior years' rules against on-street alcohol consumption, screening for weapons and maintaining fire safety.

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