Halloween Editorial

Let’s hope that Supervisor Brooks Firestone has more creative answers to the community’s other problems than he expressed in his article entitled, “ Third District Supervisor Gives Some I.V. Halloween Advice.” 

His article is peppered with admissions that make you wonder what this guy is thinking.  He admits that the following occur: 

1. There has never been a Halloween in Isla Vista where everyone came out safe and sound.
2. Our local sheriff and fire departments, hospitals and community volunteers begin planning and recruiting for this weekend months in advance, and still it is a challenge to handle the situation.
3. … intensification of alcohol poisoning and minor injuries…
4. It may be intoxicated people looking for a fight, burglars who operate amid the mass havoc or gang members who want to make their presence known.
5. Thousands of taxpayer dollars are spent on the public services that are necessary to mediate the weekend's damage.
6. Cleanup each morning is an enormous task on many of the streets that are inundated with trash, glass and about everything else you can imagine.
7. It is almost commonplace for cars to be completely ruined in Isla Vista…
8. UCSB is on the fast track to becoming one of the nation's most respected universities… However, the diploma still comes with the party school image.
9. The truth is that there are huge parties there every weekend and numerous people crowd Del Playa Drive regularly.

So while he sees all the potential for harm, he blames someone else.  His comment that “It is a simple fact that when so many people crash the party in Isla Vista, bad things happen” is just more of the same claptrap.  To suggest that UCSB's party school image emanates from Halloween alone is just plan loopy.   

UCSB/SBCC is the source of the party.  They continue to create the environment that attracts the out-of-towers to come and party (raise holy hell) in I.V.   Apparently Mr. Firestone has never heard of an "attractive nuisance."   So let me see if I got this right.  UCSB/SBCC students party all the time and get arrested all the time.  But the real problem is those who come from out of town because more of them get arrested than the people who create the party atmosphere.

If any other town of similar size had as much crime and lawlessness as IV, they would call out the National Guard.  If the I.V. party required a permit or license from the county it would be denied.  And speaking of a permit, we wonder why none is required.  Who makes the request to close the streets and brings in the lighting?  Who pays for the security and barricades?  Are there any other events in Santa Barbara that attract tens of thousands of visitors that can operate without a permit, insurance, and reimbursement to the county for its out of pocket costs?  

Perhaps the reason Brooks tolerates the party and is helping to promote it by publishing his little list of safety tips is that he is pandering to the college voters and more importantly hopes the party can be contained in the student ghetto of IV and not spill out into the more fashionable areas of Santa Barbara.  Moreover, Firestone, Yang and the rest of the UCSB administration are using ostrich management techniques –  bury your head and hope that nothing will go wrong.  If it does, they will blather on about "making bad choices" and blame someone else.   While we hope that there are no serious incidents, we will hold Firestone and UCSB responsible if there are.  

Here is an alternative:  Stop the party image by having the likes of Brooks Firestone and Chancellor Yang set a different tone.   Make the students, most of whom claim to be adults, responsible for their conduct.  If streets are to be closed and an organized event is to be staged, require the sponsors to be responsible for the consequences if things go wrong. 

Our advice to students is to try something different this weekend (unlike most of the other weekends in IV) – see if you can have a good time and remain sober.   Here are our suggestions for Halloween:

1. Get together with some of your friends and stay inside.  
2. Go home and visit your family. 
3. Don’t drink and don’t party this weekend.  It is immature and dangerous.  With the amount of booze, drugs, and thugs in the overpowering crowds, there is nothing you can do to protect yourself.  You are  taking a chance on a mob that is completely beyond  your control.   The rap about "safe partying" is just claptrap – you cannot protect yourself from the random violence that will occur.  

Let’s hope that the weather forecast for Saturday (fair and warm) is wrong.  Perhaps Mother Nature can help out since it seems that no other adult in the community is willing to even try to stop the carnage.  A good cold snap and a load of rain would save scores of injuries, dozens of assaults, hundreds of arrests, and tens of thousand of dollars in property damage.