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Quiet Halloween in the Castro: SFPD was PREPARED

by 15 year attendee
We have to police ourselves or else someone else is going to do it for us.

PLEASE: LET'S NOT LOSE THIS PARTY.

This is more than a party: this is free speech and free assembly.
Towards a day when we can once again have a CASTRO HALLOWEEN PARTY
WITH the BEST COSTUMES, music, and celebration.
WITHOUT alcohol induced gang warfare.
(They would fight without alcohol... but they really do fight with alcohol, year after year.)

in other words:
YO PEOPLE: we have to police ourselves or else someone else is going to do it for us.
If we fail to intervene or call 911 when we see violence at our party, we will lose it.
Or else: TOO LATE! WE'RE LOSING IT! DOH!

Hats off to SF and SFPD for a magnificently engineered non-party.
(SF felt a need to stop or alter this party because 9 people were shot last year
in a single incident after someone threw a bottle into a crowd.)
(Something had to be done.) (If they did nothing this could become gang warfare central.)

I hope we can re engineer this party;
ENLISTING the help of party goers who have zero tolerance for violence or weapons at this event.
Before I witnessed a profusely bleeding man running from an attacker screaming for help years ago,
before I witnessed an attacker punching a man's head into the asphalt last year,
before stabbings years ago,
before people were arrested for bringing guns years ago,
before nine people were shot last year,
before Castro Halloween was overrun with violence;
women and men were not safe here from ass-grabing drunks and gay-bashers.
Years before the knives, guns and gangs; folks were already scared to go to Castro Halloween.


Here are some observations of last night's event management:

Last night there were LESS THAN A THOUSAND visitors in the castro at all times.

The ONLY crowd was the 100 people at the entrance to the CLOSED Castro / Market subway
otherwise known as Harvey Milk Plaza, SouthWest Corner.

Otherwise there was plenty of walking space on all the sidewalks around 18th and Castro,
Castro and Market, etc.

Tue Oct 31 2007 was a well executed multiply engineered excercise in stopping an event that was attracting guns, knives and idiots.


Here are some of the ingredients:

Major publicity campaign (Print / Radio / Tv/ Internet) "NO PARTY IN THE CASTRO"
500 extra SFPD officers, many with dozens of Heavy Duty ZIP TIE handcuffs.
Street sweepers constantly wetting and cleaning Castro, 18th Street, and beyond.
Truck towing CalTrans orange Highway sign "STREETS OPEN"
SFPD at intersections guiding pedestrians through crosswalks on green lights,
and vehicles through intersections on green lights.
TV News crews dutifully covering the non party, using tactics such as focusing on
streets sweepers to show the party was not happening.
Dozens of bars and establishments closed to support the non party.
SFPD paddy wagons on hand, along with the traditional booking trailer on Collingwood
between 18th and 19th Streets, where ONLY police vehicles are allowed during event.
Closure of subway station at Castro and Market.
Closure of BART station at Mission and 16th St. after 8pm.

And just in case thousdands or tens of thousands did show up:

Scores of porta potties.

Hundred(s) of barricades to block intersections:
Barricades were at-the-ready; 1, 2 and 3 blocks away from Castro and Market in traditional locations.

Three rows of Barricades lined the sidewalks of Castro from Market past 18th to 19th Street;
one row along the West sidewalk, and two rows along the East sidewalk (in front of Castro Theater)
ready to expand into a FIRE LANE in the event the street became a crowd scene.
This Fire lane came to be in recent years due to stabbings, fights, and medical emergencies.
Add Your Comments

Comments (Hide Comments)
by the party is over
Notice to the people: you are under our total control. Since you cannot behave we will control you. You cannot park here, you cannot smoke, you cannot drink here, you must close your bars and stores, we will close the public transportation, we will station police throughout your city to control your behavior. You will behave or we, the state authority, will end your parties, your celebrations. We will decide what is best for you. We will give you freedom. If we want, we can let you drink on the streets. That is for events that we decide you can do that. Women can ride down the street topless if we let them but other woman who go topless will be arrested. You can drink in the streets if we approve the party but not if you are a homeless bum…we will arrest you. If you smoke in the park, we will arrest you. If you have no place to sleep, we will arrest you. If you have no documents, we will arrest you and detain you. We will search you, seize your property, we will do whatever we want to do. We are your authority. If you cannot behave , we will punish you and take away from you whatever we want. For those other 99,900 who attend events but were behaved…we will take away your events because of the acts of a few people. We will be in total control. We are armed…guns, tasers, paddy wagons, prisons, hidden chambers, death chambers. Now we tolerate homosexuals, minorities, religions other than our own…but someday we may choose to end our tolerance. By then, we will have all the power we want. All this seems so benign, the cops, closing establishments, outlawing things we don’t like. Once the power is ceded, we can take total control and our whims will rule.
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