City Presents “Plan” for Halloween in the Castro

Besides a PR campaign telling people to “stay home,” the plan is to make the Castro so intimidating on Halloween that people won’t want to come. More cops will be on patrol, probationees are told they’ll be arrested if they come, the Muni stations will close early, and there will be no parking on Market or Castro. But while you can shut down a party, you can’t stop people from walking into the neighborhood. And while the City’s tactics may divert the majority of law-abiding citizens who usually come to the Castro, it may have the opposite effect on people who are there to cause trouble – attracting exactly the wrong kind of crowd.

“The decision to cancel Halloween has already been made,” said Police Commission President Theresa Sparks, “and that’s not why we’re here tonight. We are here to find out what the plans and preparations are.” The Mayor’s Office, the Police Department, the Fire Department, Muni and other agencies were all on hand to say they had detailed plans that had been worked on for several months – all the while ignoring the fact that they’ve left the neighborhood out of the planning process.

Read More