The Pacific Beach Special Events Committee (PBSEC) wants to make sure that the organizers behind Stay Classy’s proposed party at PB Bar & Grill keep Garnet Avenue ” well ” classy.
Representatives from Stay Classy presented the group’s plans for an environmentally themed live music jam Saturday, April 19. The event would require fencing off a parking lot at Bayard Street and Garnet Avenue for live music, food and happy hour drink specials from 1 to 9 p.m.
The discussion sparked constructive debate among the committee over loud music, foot traffic, security, litter and the negative impacts associated with events that attract large crowds.
Last year’s event was dubbed the Charity Crawl, a pub crawl spread out between seven bars and venues along Garnet Avenue with two stages for live music. This year’s planned event has been pared down to PB Bar & Grill with one live-music stage in the adjacent parking lot.
Some community members raised concern, however, that large-scale events, which include and promote the sale of alcohol, send the wrong message about Pacific Beach.
“We just need not to have this image of where you come to Pacific Beach to get wasted. We want to put a lid on that and showcase the better parts of the community,” said Pacific Beach Special Events Committee member Marcie Beckett.
Beckett said that last year’s Stay Classy event resulted in a lot of people walking around intoxicated in the street and surrounding neighborhood.
“It’s a bad image for Pacific Beach,” she said.
To address those and other concerns, Scot Chisholm, executive director of the Stay Classy Foundation, said the organization scaled down this year’s event by containing it to one location and by increasing staff for added security.
Although alcohol would be sold there, Chisholm said the event isn’t about drinking.
“This event is not focused around drinking, the event is focused around music, culture and the environmental initiatives that Stay Classy is executing throughout the year,” he said.
He added that last year’s event attracted about 2,000 people throughout the day and raised about $11,000 for charitable causes.
Though this year’s event would be in one place, community members at the meeting said last year’s live music could be heard blocks away, which bothered some neighbors.
The concert-style event promises to feature about eight to 10 bands this year, Chisholm said.
To prevent overly loud music, Steven Hubbard, a manager of PB Bar & Grill, said event coordinators would use decibel meters to measure the volume and adjust accordingly.
Along with possibly placing extra portable restrooms near the restaurant, the foundation would also be busing people in from downtown and near Mission Bay to reduce the impact of hundreds of people walking and driving through community, he said.
He said the community’s concerns about public intoxication are warranted and that the restaurant is required to pay for extra police security as part of the permit. He said security would be in close contact with the police department. He also added that most people who attend the events act responsibly.
“A Stay Classy charity event isn’t a bunch of punks or vagrants running around. These are people interested in charity and helping people out, as well as good music,” Hubbard said.
He said PB Bar & Grill and Stay Classy would work with the community and the city to reduce the volume of music and add extra recycle bins and trash containers near the event.
Pacific Beach Town Council President Ruby Houck suggested organizers provide an extra dumpster at the event.
Though not enough Pacific Beach Special Events Committee members were present at last week’s meeting to make an official recommendation to the city, they suggested that Chisholm and other representatives return next month with more information on plans to reduce the negative impact on the community.
Stay Classy representatives said they plan to meet with City Council members as they complete the application process for the permit.
The committee was also scheduled to hear a proposal for a Brazilian-themed event slated for Sept. 7. However, that group failed to show up for last week’s meeting.
The PBSEC meets every third Tuesday of the month at 6 p.m. at the Discover Pacific Beach offices, 1503 Garnet Ave. The committee acts as an advisory committee to the City Council and recommends approval or denial of applications for special events in Pacific Beach.
Discover Pacific Beach represents about 1,200 businesses in the Pacific Beach Business Improvement District and showcases several community events a year, including restaurant walks, charity beach runs and BeachFest.