Castro Halloween Planning

By Edd Dundas, DTNA Board

In January 2003, a meeting was held in the Bank of America Community Room on Castro to address local concerns over Halloween in the Castro this year. Attending were representatives from EVPA, MUMC, DTNA, and the Mayor's office. Supervisor Bevan Dufty attended. At that meeting, I expressed my concerns about Halloween in the Castro:

On Halloween (2002) evening and overnight of October 31, I was literally trapped in my house. I (nor any of my neighbors on the 800 block of 14th Street) could not have gotten my car out of my garage nor could an emergency vehicle come to rescue anyone in my neighborhood. From about 8 pm to 3 am, there was a constant traffic jam on 14th street. The crowd partied - drank, danced, shouted, and broke glass - up and down the block. I feared that unruly group jeopardized me, my home and pets. I have surveyed neighbors and they agree the danger must stop.

On March 26, Supervisor Dufty chaired a meeting of the City Services Committee to take testimony from these and other city departments on the safety concerns of past and future Halloween parties in the Castro neighborhood.

On March 27, 2003, Richard McGary, president of the Buena Vista Neighborhood Association and also a member of the DTNA, sent the following letter to Supervisor Bevan Dufty.

Dear Supervisor Dufty:

Thank you again/or leading the effort for better planning and coordination of the Castro Halloween celebration, and for the opportunity to speak at the hearing you chaired yesterday.

BVNA strongly supports your proposal that the City be the sponsor and coordinator of Castro Halloween. The event (and its serious, growing, unacceptable problems) is unique. It has become too large, too broad in scope, too fraught with unwanted problems and liability issues for any non-city group or organization to effectively manage at this time. Under your leadership, we are confident that a collective effort will find the right solutions and mix of event timing, crowd and access controls, alcohol policies, entertainment attractions, etc.

We feel also that the geographic scope for event planning must include the neighborhoods west and north of Castro/Market (for example, west to Clayton/Ashbury, north to Haight Street), including the streets and residential areas surrounding Corona Heights/Randall Museum and Buena Vista Park. This area also has been seriously impacted during recent Castro Halloween events, by greatly increased vehicle and pedestrian traffic (including detoured drivers and walkers hopelessly lost among the non-grid street patterns here); searches for long-taken, non-existent street parking; and the spill-over of hostile, violence-prone, intoxicated behavior.

Please count BVNA among the organizations that will actively participate in planning and providing resources for future Castro Halloween events under your and the City's leadership. But we need that leadership "from the top," to assure that all critical issues are properly balanced, to avoid future problems (and even disaster), and to that assure this event returns to being a positive celebration for the neighborhood and the community at large.

Best regards,
Richard Magary for BVNA.

We encourage all DTNA neighbors to send us your reactions to the events of last October's Halloween so that, at a future DTNA meeting, we can discuss the problems and suggest solutions to the continuing dangers of such a huge event.