A scaled-down Pacific Beach Street Fair is being considered by organizers for the summer following the permit denial for an April street fair by city officials.
Jeff Sykes, president of the Pacific Beach Community Foundation which organizes the previous PB Block Parties, initially appealed the permit denial to the city’s Public Safety & Neighborhood Services (PS&NS) Committee.
Sykes withdrew the appeal April 10 after city officials presented him with an 11-page report that recommended the committee deny the appeal and block the street fair from happening on April 22.
"We can’t respond to an 11-page staff report in one day," Sykes said. He said he was given the report two days before a special PS&NS meeting was to hear the appeal on April 12. The committee meeting was then canceled when he withdrew the appeal.
The musical acts had already rescheduled and the vendors were not going to participate on short notice, he said.
Sykes said his appeal will now be heard before a June 21 PS&NS meeting in hopes of having "a much reduced event" in the summer. He said the foundation will get some legal advice before the next meeting because the city is treating his organization differently than other groups who put on public events.
Sykes said the city’s denial was "based on hearsay and not based on fact." The event did have community support, contrary to the report, he said, and city officials didn’t base their decision on "factual information."
It will be an uphill battle for the Community Foundation to organize a summer street fair. The group must get three out of four members of the PS&NS to overturn the decision. Councilman Kevin Faulconer has cited the event’s impact as a reason to postpone the Street Fair until 2007.
Also on the committee are chairman Brian Maienschein, and Councilmembers Tony Young and Ben Hueso.
San Diego Police services for the proposed street fair would cost the city $75,055, the report says. It would have taken 62 police officers and supervisors, along with special event traffic controllers to cover it. Public safety resources are already maximized because of other competing events, the report says.
City officials opposed the April 22 Street Fair because it was on the same day as the 33rd Annual Adams Avenue Roots Festival. Other events needing police services were also scheduled that weekend including the La Jolla Half Marathon, the Linda Vista Cultural Fair and the 17th annual EarthFair.
Sykes said city officials included other competing events in the report that do not compare, such as the Hillcrest Farmer’s Market which occurs every week and a Padres baseball game.
Despite the cancellation of the event, there has been a grassroots movement online to continue the party tradition encouraging neighborhood parties.
One Web site posting exclaimed, “We may not have a street fair but the neighborhood-wide parties will go on as scheduled,” while a second Web site encourage residents to host house parties and “Remember, this year’s Block Party is organized by the people, not the city. So spread the word!”
Sykes said he had seen the Web sites but the Community Foundation had nothing to do with them.
“[O]ur only involvement is we know they exist," Sykes said.
Two weeks ago, an anonymous letter began circulating calling for the boycott of businesses owned by members of Discover Pacific Beach and the removal of Councilman Kevin Faulconer in the upcoming election.
The Pacific Beach Block Party in 2005 had an estimated attendance between 150,000 and 200,000.
As the annual event continued to grow in side, many business owners and residents complained of noise, litter, traffic and intoxicated attendees.
There were 13 organizations listed in the report as opposing the street fair. The include the Pacific Beach Town Council, the PB Community Planning Committee, the Mission Beach Town Council, Save PB.org, Sail Bay Association, Discover Pacific Beach, Saint Brigid’s Catholic Church, and Saint Andrew’s By-the-Sea Episcopal Church.
Three groups who favored the street fair include the Pacific Beach Lions Club, the Mission Bay Little League, and FreePB.org. The city has received 1,200 e-mails in support of the event.