Originally Posted By Darkbeer <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8SJT75O0&show_article=1" target="_blank">http://www.breitbart.com/artic le.php?id=D8SJT75O0&show_article=1</a> >>City officials want the hundreds of thousands of people who usually flock to an annual Halloween street party here to stay home or go elsewhere after several episodes of violence in recent years. Officials have advised would-be revelers through fliers, public service announcements and juvenile probation officers that they won't find many treats in the Castro District, home in past years to the largest Halloween happening in the San Francisco Bay area. What they will find are hundreds of extra police officers, shuttered restaurants, stepped up sobriety checks and no bus or train service after 8:30 p.m. "This is really a public safety decision," said Supervisor Bevan Dufty, who represents the Castro and spent the better part of a year trying to arrange an alternative city-sanctioned gathering. "I'm disappointed my message is one of, 'Please don't come.'" The festivities started decades ago as a homegrown celebration for San Francisco's gay and lesbian community, but has drawn a scarier element in recent years. In 2002, five people were stabbed. Three years ago, someone wandered the crowds wielding a chain saw. Last year, nine revelers were shot when a confrontation between two groups of young people erupted into gunfire, despite ramped-up security. No one has been arrested in the shooting. <<
Originally Posted By Inspector 57 Okay. An increasingly popular public party in a huge city has (predictably) become plagued with the crime that huge public parties in huge cities unfortunately sometimes attract. I don't remember seeing a thread here about people being shot at Detroit's Fourth of July fireworks last year. What's the point of this one, Darkbeer?
Originally Posted By jonvn um, he's homophobic? That's the point I get from it. Fact is that people from other areas around the bay come into the neighborhood and cause trouble.
Originally Posted By idleHands I've lived in the Castro for the past 14 years. Most of the residents and merchants who've lived here long-term (i.e., not the uber-rich DINKs who purchased their $1.8 million Victorian renovations within the last two years) are of the same mindset as I am: the City government over-reacted, Bevin over-reacted, Gavin over-reacted, and the closure of the streets and parking spaces and MUNI and BART stations is going to be far more painful for us residents than the problems such actions are trying to prevent. Yeah, that was long-winded. But the shootings last year were an unusual and unexpected outcome of the party. Tens of thousands of folks come to my neighborhood every Halloween and manage to have fun and not be jerks. Nine Neanderthals had to de-evolve and ruin it for everyone else. Castro Halloween is not such a hotbed of violence that it needs to be shut down. This annual "queer high holiday" will definitely be missed by me.
Originally Posted By Lisann22 Ok, I'm sorry but this thread really pisses me off. Get a life dude. I attended the Castro Halloween night as a damn kid. Quit feeding all the stereotypes and trying to raise hysteria with your homophobic views. God, this is disgusting.
Originally Posted By Darkbeer Yeah, right... I have been to Castro Street multiple times, and eaten in multiple restaurants in the district. A good friend of mine used to have an apartment on Twin Peaks and I visited her multiple times years ago. Folks I work with are from all sexual preferences, and NOWHERE in the original post did it even talk about sexual preference. This is a NEWS item dealing with crowd issues and what is appropriate in PUBLIC, not the choice that adults make in private. And I think more than a few LP'ers here that are "open" to the fact they have an alternative sexual lifestyle can vouch I have never treated them differently than anyone else due to their sexual preference.
Originally Posted By DAR Good thing I never posted what happened on Juneteenth Day here in Milwaukee, I would have be labeled a racist. And unfortunately there's always those who ruin it for the rest of the people.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder Well, Darkbeer, your idea of what is news and suitable for World Events is different than most others. Why is it then if you're not homophobic or racist, do you always post "news items" that deal with gays and latinos? Why are your posts always so slanted to one side? Granted, we al have agendas, but yours are always so transparent that there's no other conclusion to come to about your views. And if you do have friends who live "alternative lifesytles", as you put it, if I were them I'd watch my back.
Originally Posted By Darkbeer But if we want a discussion, here is a good quote to start thought from the NY Times... <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/30/us/30gay.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=2&adxnnlx=1193804655-meqUEXbfVSGwTucst6UbcQ" target="_blank">http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10 /30/us/30gay.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=2&adxnnlx=1193804655-meqUEXbfVSGwTucst6UbcQ</a> >>In West Hollywood, another traditional gay haven, the graying of the population and the high cost of real estate have resulted in once-gay watering holes like the Spike and the I Candy Lounge going hetero. A new kind of gentrification is under way in which young gay waiters and school teachers move instead to Hollywood and other surrounding neighborhoods. “We often clamored for equality where gay and straight could coexist,†said Mayor John Duran of West Hollywood, who is gay. “But we weren’t prepared to give up our subculture to negotiate that exchange.†<< As for alternatives, the city of SF has set up this website... <a href="http://homeforhalloween.com/" target="_blank">http://homeforhalloween.com/</a>
Originally Posted By barboy This sucks!! Oh well there goes the 6th coolest thing I have ever done. 1 surfing the South China Sea 2 getting drunk in Tijuana 3 smoking out in Amsterdam 4 clubbing it in Shinjuku 5 diving and smoking in Jamaica I am totally going to miss this event for years to come. Time to get drunk starting now. Besides we are a rockin and a rollin here in the Bay tonight thanks to that 5.6 Hey maybe we should call ourselves the quaker state.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder I think we should discuss why you're always trolling the Internet for articles on gays. Want to share something, by any chance?
Originally Posted By idleHands <<As for alternatives, the city of SF has set up this website...>> Yeah, I'd expect that kind of mediocre pablum from Gavin's office. Blech. For another perspective from the MERCHANTS AND RESIDENTS OF THE CASTRO, try this site: <a href="http://www.halloweeninthecastro.com/" target="_blank">http://www.halloweeninthecastr o.com/</a> Way to represent both sides of the issue, DB. 8^P
Originally Posted By Lisann22 SingleParkPassholder said it best. I'm so sick of this. Lots of people treat others one way but hold certain views in private. Sorry your threads do not match your post. Too much all the time of the same crap.
Originally Posted By Darkbeer Talking about drinking, and the Castro District... <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/flat/archive/2007/10/30/chronicle/archive/2007/10/29/BAEBT2RQF.html" target="_blank">http://www.sfgate.com/flat/arc hive/2007/10/30/chronicle/archive/2007/10/29/BAEBT2RQF.html</a> >>People who come to the Castro will find many of the bars and restaurants closed. Supervisor Bevan Dufty asked 110 businesses with liquor licenses in the neighborhood to shut down on Halloween - an extremely profitable night for some establishments - and at first met resistance from owners. Over the past few weeks, though, the list of closures or early closures has grown to 34 establishments and includes every bar in the neighborhood but one. Several of the larger bars and clubs will close at 10 p.m., though many corner and convenience stores that sell individual bottles of alcohol plan to remain open. Police will have a large presence in the area, too, with 600 San Francisco officers along with sheriff's deputies who have said they will arrest anyone who breaks the law, including laws on open alcoholic containers and public intoxication. The California Highway Patrol is planning check points to stop drunk drivers near the neighborhood. Juveniles and adults on probation in eight Bay Area counties have been ordered to stay away from the Castro on Halloween. That show of force - and the plan to close streets depending on the crowd size - concerns people who have criticized the city government's planning for Halloween. Alix Rosenthal, who last year ran and lost to Dufty in the race for the District Eight seat on the Board of Supervisors, co-founded a group called Citizens for Halloween to advocate in favor of keeping the celebration. Rosenthal said she thinks 100,000 people will show up tomorrow night and that her biggest fear is a riot occurring. "If cops are aggressively enforcing against people who are drunk or on drugs or whatever, I can see people fighting back and the numbers overwhelming the police," Rosenthal said.<< There are limits on how folks need to act in public. You want to get sloppy drunk, do it at a private area/party, not in the middle of a public street, unless you are prepared to be arrested. And that is no matter your gender, race or sexual preference. No group has the right to take over public areas and then think they have the right to not follow the laws and regulations set by the government for how to act in public. You want nudity, go to a nudist colony, where it is on private property and fenced off. You want to have a few drinks, there are many locations to do it, but all the public areas are regulated and have rules, and if you drink too much, you have the chance of being arrested due to your activities. That is what society has decided in the laws of the land, and if you have a problem with it, then you should approached the legislators and try and have the rules changed.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder So apparently Darkbeer enjoys being a racist homophobic, as he insists on shoving these posts on the bandwith. If you dislike drinking so much change your name. I can come up with a few new ones if you'd like.
Originally Posted By DAR Or charge people money to go this event or if they already do, raise the prices. You might keep the riff raff away if you make things too expensive.
Originally Posted By Darkbeer Actually, there was a proposal to have it somewhere else... From the same Chronicle article as linked in post 14 >>City leaders decided to hold an alternative event this year in the parking lot of the Giants' ballpark but plans were canceled after the promoter for that event backed out. With no alternative, officials decided to not hold any official event, but revelers are still likely to come.<<
Originally Posted By barboy "Rosenthal said she thinks 100,000 people will show up tomorrow night and that her biggest fear is a riot occurring." I am so there (I hope). Nothing like a mass party in the streets. Hey, can you blame me after all I majored in alcohol down at UC Santa Barbara. Isla Vista on Oct 31 used to host the biggest street bash in the US.
