City Planning on Moving Halloween Festivities to Waterfront

By Andy Sywak

If city leaders have their way, there won’t be anything more raucous in the Castro this Halloween than a few sugar-high schoolchildren running through the streets.

At a meeting in April at City Hall, city leaders including Supervisor Bevan Dufty and Mayor Gavin Newsom agreed to begin planning for a Halloween bash near the waterfront that would end festivities in the Castro.

The proposed Halloween party would be at piers 30 and 32 – the site of local radio station KFOG’s annual KaBoom concert and fireworks show – just north of AT&T Park. Supervisor Chris Daly, whose district includes piers 30 and 32, also gave his consent to the plan.

Though no commitments have been made by any parties, backers of the waterfront bash hope to find a promoter who can land a big-name act to headline the party. Getting an act that will attract youth is of great importance.

“I think we’re pretty much at the end of our rope,” said Dufty, referring to last year’s Halloween melee where nine people were injured in shootings.

“I’m very grateful that the mayor has stepped forward and agreed to work with us in creating a safer, alternative venue for Halloween,” he continued. “Piers 30 and 32 offer numerous advantages in terms of being able to provide a major entertainment feature that is going to draw people.”

Dufty called the Castro “too residential” for a big Halloween bash and “too opportunistic in terms of people who are bad actors who can get in and out quickly.”

His office is working alongside the Port of San Francisco and the Entertainment Commission to get a plan in place. However, nothing has yet been decided.

“The City is just looking at its options,” said Bob Davis, director of the city’s Entertainment Commission. “There are many people in the Castro who don’t want to see it there and the City is rightfully listening to all the neighbors and deciding on all their options.”

Davis said that any discussions about a possible Halloween scenario are “speculative until a plan is announced.”

The wildcard in the plans is the port. Besides KFOG KaBoom, piers 30 and 32 have hosted the X Games and the festivities for Fleet Week. It also handles overflow when large cruise ships arrive. The piers were chosen due to their proximity to commuters and to put a good distance between the Castro and the party. Part of the current plan is to have buses shuttle partygoers to the piers from the Castro.

“The port has not officially been asked by anybody to hold a celebration there (piers 30 and 32),” said Renee Dunn, spokesperson for the Port of San Francisco.

According to Dunn, it takes a month or two to get through the permitting process and prospective parties must have insurance in place and meet fire codes.

However, it is unknown whether the piers have ever handled a crowd the size that has appeared in the Castro in recent years – crowds have approached 100,000.

Castro Weary of Halloween
The announcement happened as some Castro residents have grown increasingly restive with Dufty about his failure to hold public meetings he promised in the wake of last year’s violence.
Dufty’s aide, Rachelle McManus, was berated by a few attendees at the April meeting of the Merchants of Upper Market and Castro (MUMC) when she failed to provide any concrete information about when the task force might meet.

According to a November 2, 2006, press release from the Mayor’s office, a task force was supposed to meet last November and then “on a quarterly basis” going forward. No such meetings have been held.

However, speaking at the May MUMC meeting, Dufty said a neighborhood meeting would occur in May and that the date would be announced in the Bay Area Reporter in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, Castro residents voiced support for moving the festivities to the waterfront.

“It would be nice if it became a neighborhood event again instead of an event where the neighborhood flees,” said Michael England, a waiter at Orphan Andy’s restaurant on 17th Street who has lived in the Castro for 30 years. He said the restaurant closes on Halloween night because of the unruliness.

“I’ve had to ask several people not to urinate and defecate in front of my home,” said Ed Conley, a resident on Pond Street. “The way it was ten years ago was great. The last five years it has gotten bad.”

Copyright 2007-2008 Castro Courier