T-minus one day 'til Halloween and the city is doing a bit of PR clean-up in the Castro. And city-contracted Halloween marketeer David Perry is on the front lines. Dude is receiving quite the lashing from the community for his decidedly lame Home for Halloween campaign in which, you'll remember, we are implored to not leave our neighborhoods to bring much-needed business to restaurants and bars in other parts of the city. Writes Perry on his blog: "There very much WILL be Halloween in the Castro. As for 'cancelling a celebration:' the fact is quite the opposite." Right, it's not so much a cancellation as a, um, suppression. (Please note: the front page of Home For Halloween's Website, which proudly declares, "There will be NO Halloween celebration in the Castro in 2008." O...kay.) He continues:
"Businesses in the Castro are open, and will be doing a brisk business on Friday, October 31. The only thing that has changed is that a street party which over the last few years has attracted crowds in excess of 100,000 will no longer be allowed to spill off of public sidewalks to impede traffic, the rights of pedestrians, or the rights of those who live-and-work in the '94114.'"
So, keep it on the sidewalk, people, and things should be just peachy.
· Opinion vs. Opinion
· San Francisco's Ham-Handed Attempt to Suppress Halloween [SF Citizen]
· Halloween is Dead. Long Live Halloween! [Curbed SF]
· Home for Halloween: City Shoos "Outsiders" From Castro Party [Curbed SF]
· City Harshes Halloween's Mellow [Curbed SF]For more stories from Curbed SF, go to sf.curbed.com.
