S.F. officials
cancel Castro Halloween

San Francisco city officials are hoping for a quiet night in the Castro this October 31, announcing that there will be no official Halloween celebration, reports the San Francisco Chronicle.

"There will be no party," said Audrey Joseph, president of the city's entertainment commission, according to the newspaper.

Officials had planned to host a large outdoor concert near AT&T Park as an alternative to the Castro celebration, where a shooting last year injured nine people. But the concert promoter has decided the event is too much to handle and that there is not enough time to find another venue, Joseph said, according to the Chronicle.

Although the alternative celebration has been canceled, officials are still trying to keep the Castro empty come Halloween. According to the Chronicle, supervisor Bevan Dufty sent a letter to 110 local business owners asking them to keep their doors closed during the holiday.

Halloween has been a major community event--nicknamed the "gay Christmas," it draws several hundred thousand people to the Castro--but Dufty says the celebration has lived past its prime.

"It's not a holiday in the Castro. It's a night in which the neighborhood is overrun by people who come to gawk, not celebrate, and unfortunately, it turns into gang night out in the Castro," he said to the Chronicle.

To discourage partygoers, no streets will be closed for pedestrian traffic and no portable bathrooms will be provided. However, police will be deployed in numbers similar to last Halloween.

Cafe Flore, one of the Castro's most popular establishments, plans to close shop this Halloween.

"It's normally a big-money night, but it's just too crazy," manager Doug Forrester told the Chronicle. The cafe is only a few yards from where the shooting occurred last year.

Some residents have complained about the lack of public involvement in the decision-making process. Although a task force was scheduled to meet over the issue, once officials decided there would be no Castro Halloween, the group was disbanded.

Some residents think a successful celebration could take place.

"Other cities do this kind of thing all the time, and you don't hear about excessive violence, you don't hear about gay bashing," said Alix Rosenthal, who unsuccessfully challenged Dufty during his reelection campaign last year, to the Chronicle. She said a lack of commitment and resources--not homophobia--marred last year's celebration. (The Advocate)