The party may be over ” for now.
The Pacific Beach Town Council (PBTC) voted 69-46 to oppose this year’s PB Block Party, recently renamed the Pacific Beach Street Fair, at its March 15 meeting at Pacific Beach Middle School.
The packed auditorium included passionate supporters and opponents of the 30-year-old event, which started as a small community street fair. It has since evolved into a music festival that last year attracted approximately 200,000 visitors from as far away as Arizona.
Critics of the annual event say it has become a “drunk fest” that promotes vandalism, drunk driving, and lewd behavior while crippling local businesses.
Supporters describe the one-day event as a showcase for area businesses and a fund-raiser that contributes as much as $50,000 annually to organizations such as the Pacific Beach Kiwanis Club, Mission Bay High School clubs, the PBTC, and Discover Pacific Beach.
Benjamin Nicholls, Discover Pacific Beach executive director and the permit holder for the past two block parties, is among a group of residents and local organizations that wants to postpone this year’s street fair while the community discusses an alternate event.
“By voting for the street fair, you are voting to deny that process,” Nicholls said.
“It is not about having no events in PB,” said SavePB member Marcie Beckett. “It’s about creating new events that showcase the best of our community.”
Beckett said she believes that holding the street fair next month would create the same problems of past years because pervasive Internet advertising equates the street fair with the block party.
Catherine Strohlein, vice chairperson of the Pacific Beach Community Planning Committee (PBCPC), agreed: “It’s run by the same people. It will not change.”
Jeff Sykes, president of the Pacific Beach Community Foundation, which organizes the event, believes it can be better managed and scaled down.
Sykes said his goals for this year’s street fair include downsizing it from eight to five blocks, reducing the music stages from seven to two, and targeting 75,000 attendees.
The foundation is also planning to make the event more community-centered by including a fashion show, hot dog-eating contest and reduced vendor rates for businesses in the 92109 ZIP code.
Nicholls questioned the safety of the street fair, saying that the San Diego Police Department (SDPD) had asked event organizers to increase security.
In response to questions on whether the foundation had an emergency plan in place in case of a riot, Sykes said that the foundation plans to spend $43,000 on police enforcement and an additional $12,000 on private security. “We do the best we can,” he said. “If our security plan doesn’t meet (SDPD’s) standards, we don’t get the permit.”
Sykes dismissed PBTC member Eve Anderson’s allegations that Trader Joe’s lost more than $50,000 in business during last year’s block party as “pure bunk.”
Anderson, who started the block party 30 years ago, told Sykes he would be “shocked and horrified” by the stories of what local businesses endure during the event.
Other council members focused on what role businesses play in excessive alcohol consumption.
“If Discover PB is so against this event, why not ask your members not to serve alcohol?” asked Patrick Finucane of the PBCPC and PBTC.
Nicholls responded that area bars are not the problem. Canceling beer gardens, per the SDPD’s request, just exacerbated alcohol-related problems, he said, adding “People take their parties home.”
Both sides agreed neighborhood parties outside the street fair account for much of the event’s arrests and drunken behavior.
“That’s not something we can control,” said Sykes.
Some attendees questioned whether parties and alcohol could be controlled in an area with such a young population and active bar scene.
“Any event you’re going to have in PB is not going to be like any other event in San Diego because of the demographic and density of bars on Garnet,” said past PBTC president Rob Buechel.
“There’s always going to be excuses to party,” Sykes said. “You’re making this a lot bigger than it is.”
Many residents believe that alcohol-related problems have already gotten too big for their community and that the block party sets the tone for the entire year.
Citing a Web site that features photos of Pacific Beach drunks, one PBTC member urged other members to “break the cycle” and postpone the street fair.
Now that the PBTC has voted to do just that, the city will weigh in.
Councilman Kevin Faulconer agreed with the PBTC’s decision.
“I think it’s appropriate now to take a pause, step back, and come up with a process that involves everybody and move on from there,” Faulconer said following the meeting. The city’s special events department is expected to decide this week if it will approve the permit for the proposed April 22 date.
“Is this vote truly representative of the entire community?” asked Robert Rynearson, a member of the PBTC and Freepb.org.
PBTC consists mainly of older long-term residents, said past council president Jim Moore. The council received 553 e-mails in support of the street fair from residents, he added. “Their representation is lacking tonight because they’re not members of the PBTC.”
Moore believes that the moratorium on the street fair could be its death.
“There won’t be another street fair in Pacific Beach if this event doesn’t go through,” he said. “Good luck to those people trying to raise those funds.”
A series of fund-raisers could match the amount raised by the street fair, according to Nicholls.
PBTC President Don Mullen defended another issue that has recently inspired debate: private council board meetings. The board recently voted 11-2 to continue meeting privately rather than opening their meetings to the public.
“The problem is people in the audience would frequently interrupt,” Mullen said. Minutes from the board’s meetings will be posted on the council’s Web site and the public will be welcome to have an item placed on the agenda, he said.
Following the heated debate and vote on the street fair, Mullen urged council members to focus on “unity in our community because ‘unity’ is part of that word.”
Discover Pacific Beach has scheduled a follow up special events workshop, Monday, April 3, 6:30 at the Crown Point Elementary, 4033 Ingraham St.
The PBTC’s next general meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, April 19, 7 p.m., at the Earl & Birdie Taylor Library, 4275 Cass St.
For more information, visit www.pbtowncouncil.org or call (858) 483-6666.