Castro Halloween 2009? Newsom, Dufty, & Perry says NO

It's Halloween time again in San Francisco and we are just 15 days away from kids trick-or-treating in front of your house, or the adults hanging out at their favorite bar or street for a cool orange colored themed drink.

But come on... where's the biggest party going to be at? Where else? The CASTRO!

Since 2007, I've been advocating in support of continuing the Halloween tradition in the Castro district, and in 2009, this will be my third year of flicking my middle finger at Mayor Gavin Newsom, Supervisor Bevan Dufty, and P.R. a-hole David Perry.

So once again, the Mayor's office in support with David Perry's P.R. campaign has re-done "Home for Halloween" 2009 to promote you to keep your ass away from the Castro district. Hmmm... a third year you say?

Let's recall the last two years:

• In 2007: David Perry and Mayor Newsom shut-down the Castro and encouraged neighborhood businesses to not open in the evening of Halloween (at a cost of $40,000 of taxpayer money). People still came, and the places that defied Perry and Newsom's request saw a huge boom in business with people lining up for good eats and drinks. As for the ones that closed, they regretted doing it because they lost money. Dufty promised that the city will host an organized event in the Castro the following year, but broke his promise (see below).
  
• In 2008: The city decided to host an alternate event at the parking lot at AT&T Park and spent $500,000+ of taxpayer money, but also spending an untold amount of money to stop people from going to the Castro. It turned out to be the biggest bust ever when hardly anyone showed-up to AT&T Park, and many decided to party on the sidewalks of the Castro district since the city banned the event to leach onto the road.

Doesn't this city get it? People want to party at the original home of Halloween in San Francisco. So why not spend our hard earned tax dollars to host a legitimate event with the neighborhood where the city can have officers screen people for weapons and illegal drugs, and if need be, offer very low priced admission to cover the costs of permits, clean-up, and other related problems. If we want to help our fellow businesses in this tough economy, don't ban the event, encourage it so people will shop and eat.

By letting your city invest into David Perry's pockets, you are giving this jackass taxpayer money to tell people to get the f*** away from the Castro; but noticing last year's reaction where people still came out to that neighborhood, the Mayor should switch sides, especially if he wants to get elected to be Governor.

So I encourage you, resist the temptation of partying at home and ship your butt to the Castro. Let's give Newsom, Dufty, and Perry the ONE FINGERED SALUTE!

Why not piss-off David Perry a few more times?
-- Suggest a Halloween event on his website and simply mention the event title to be: "HALLOWEEN IN THE CASTRO!"
--Give a "one star" rating on his YouTube video. He banned comments (asshole).

Castro Halloween 2008 Lives Again & AT&T Park Halloween Fizzled

Hot from the news folks at KPIX, their 11PM news broadcast reports that while the streets are closed in the Castro for this Halloween 2008, people still came to celebrate in the sidewalks and the businesses were wide open. Looks like the Castro's economy will prosper from this event, you need food and drink when you wear a costume and sweat to death in a mask.

And as for the city's "Official" event in the parking lot at AT&T Park... it fizzled! KPIX reports that attendance was only 2,000 and an official from the Entertainment Commission was expecting five times that number. The city estimates the event they planned, costs $500,000, and it looks like by the very dismal attendance, the city would have likely lost about $430,000 (2000 people, and multiply that by $35 admission fee per person, subtract that by 500,000).

The Entertainment Commission representative blames poor publicity (naa, blame yourself for thinking of this idea out your asshole).

Well hell, it was poor publicity from the start. Who the hell would want to party at a parking lot, where the vendors charge insane prices for food, charge money for admission, get pat searched down before entering, the T-Third line only runs single train cars (limited capacity), and AT&T Park's insane parking rates for these "special events."

So once again, our beloved (now moronic) city officials, and as always, David Perry, screwed-up again!

Let's point out the real bad things that went wrong:

• The city more than likely wasted even more money than last year. Last year was just a shut-down of the Castro (estimated $300,000) with anti-Halloween promotion by David Perry ($40,000), but this year is the huge financial loss of the AT&T Park festival ($430,000) and still paying for cops and city officials at the Castro (unsure, but at least $50,000).
• The retailers who paid for a space at AT&T park with the expectation of 10,000 people, got no business.

Oh hell, I'll just make it simple, Castro next year!

If you went to the Castro, thank you for giving a big middle finger and "FUCK YOU" to Gavin Newsom, Bevan Dufty, and David Perry. Now do you trust your city officials? No... that's why I should be Mayor. I'd kick anyone's ass who really deserves it. Up first, Muni's union.

Lastly, my poll shows a landslide victory for me to wear the Arnold outfit. So here's the photos!

Wasted San Francisco Tax Money on Lame 2008 Anti-Halloween Campaign - Again!

Looks like the city invested more of our wasted tax dollars on that bastard David Perry and Associates to make another "Home for Halloween" bullshit.

(If you are wondering why I feel that David Perry was paid with taxpayer money, look at the website, on the bottom left of Perry's site has the City and County of San Francisco's seal and sponsored by Newsom himself!)

So... let's see what kind of David Parry created shit he did this time.

It looks like my tax dollars went into updating his childish looking "Home for Halloween" website: http://www.homeforhalloween.com/

And notice the good ol' graphic (down below)? Yep, once again, it looks like a damn five year old made the graphic. And it's the same one he used last year! So really, his expense for creating this childish graphic is ZERO.



And now they have... YouTube (or they call "BooTube" videos)... but I like to call them BullshiTUBE videos because they once again make low quality commercials/PSAs that these local TV stations will NOT likely air it:

• KTVU (Fox 2)
  
• KNTV (NBC 11)
• KPIX (CBS 5)
• KGO (ABC 7)
• KQED (like who in their right minds would put it on PBS?)
• KOFY (TV 20)
• KBCW (CW 44)

But of course, there's always one station that will air the shitty commercials... KRON! Where do you think they got the studio space to make their BullshiTube quality videos? And if you produce a commercial at one TV station, the competitor stations will realize that "I don't want to air that material on my station because we are competing against them."

So make an effort to piss off David Perry... vote with "one star" on his stupid ass videos. And also... YouTube comments on his new vids are open! So go ahead and piss him off that way too. Remember David Perry... if you delete YouTube comments, you sponsor government censorship, since taxpayers are paying for you to promote "Home for Halloween."

Oh... and don't forget his "Home for Halloween" blog too! It seems that although he is getting a huge wad of cash to promote "Home for Halloween," he uses BLOGGER a FREE SERVICE to conduct his "official" blog.

Makes me wonder... for the wad of taxpayer money he gets... how much is he spending? Hey Newsom, get your auditors out there and check on David Perry's expenses. If he doesn't use all the money you gave him, get it back, even if that means getting the City Attorney involved.

Let's add up David Perry's expenses (a hypothetical estimate):

• Re-using homeforhalloween.com: Zero dollars.
• Re-using childish looking pumpkin, skull, and ghost graphic: Zero dollars.
• Using Blogger to make his "Home for Halloween" blog: Zero dollars.
• Making low quality commercials at the KRON studios: Zero dollars.
• Getting it aired on KRON: Zero dollars.
• Getting it aired on other TV stations: Not applicable.
• Hiring unknown celebrities to be part of the commercials: One $1 cheeseburger at McDonalds.
• Using YouTube to promote the commercials: Zero dollars.
• A make your own "Home for Halloween" contest for money: $750 of taxpayer money (given as a prize) for something that hardly anyone wants to make an ad for.
  
• (And just to add to this, I learned that last year's winner was the ONLY person who entered, and let me tell you, his video was crap... and the guy who made the video agreed!)
  
• People coming to the Castro on Halloween to give Bevan Dufty and David Perry the middle finger: Priceless.

Taxpayer money can buy a P.R. organization to tell you to get the fuck away from the Castro, but the people will still come.

Always remember... Akit's Complaint Department is watching you David Perry. Akit is always looking out for the San Francisco taxpayers to make sure that our government leaders are not wasting money on bullshit stuff.

And... Bevan Dufty is still a liar. I love this photo I found on Castro Halloween's website!


Did anyone notice that the Castro Halloween website is now in cohoots (better known as having sex with or sleeping with) the folks making up that 2008 Halloween event at AT&T Park? So now... the organization for "Halloween in the Castro" and David Perry's PR business is both supporting the AT&T Park Halloween bash. What the hell is going on around here? Last year it was the "Halloween in the Castro" organization did not want the city to shut down the neighborhood, and David Perry was sponsored by Newsom and taxpayer money to tell you to scram.

For all you readers, do me a favor, go have fun in the Castro for Halloween. Last year's closure crippled their economy. So buy that slice of pizza and get your beer and enjoy. Make sure you don't tick off the cops, it looks like the city will waste (once again) hundreds of thousands of dollars of our tax money to "shut down" the Castro once again. Just please, don't bring the FBI (is Osama going to pee on the streets?) and the SWAT sharpshooters (as confirmed by KTVU news last year).

Disclaimer: I can't really prove that David Perry received a wad of taxpayer money to sponsor the 2008 anti-Castro Halloween campaign, but if you see the City's official seal and noting that is sponsored by Mayor Newsom's office on Perry's website, then there is a very good possibility that there was some kind of financial payment of taxpayer dollars made to David Perry.

SF Supervisor Bevan Dufty - Liar and Castro's Halloween Killer

Word is going around that the City and County of San Francisco is not going to host the 2008 Castro Halloween.

As you can recall from last year and postings here at the Complaint Department, the 2007 Castro Halloween was canceled by the city and the city actually spent their money paying for insane amounts of police overtime, and other city staffing expenses to shut down the Castro, and that really hurt the neighborhood's economy and reputation.

Oh, and don't forget the wasted $40,000 of MY TAX MONEY campaign by David Perry & Associates to tell people to stay away from the Castro in 2007. They made cheap and crappy PSAs/TV commercials that received one to three star ratings on YouTube (see here) and every local TV station refused to air the commercial except for KRON (the least watched and worst station in the city), used Blogger (a free service) to make blog postings, and made posters that looks like a kindergarten student did it. Plus, they used my tax money for GOVERNMENT SPONSORED CENSORSHIP, they erased and blocked all comments and ratings on their YouTube videos, and erased all negative comments from their "Home for Halloween" blog. And just to note, I made those negative comments that got erased. If they didn't want comments, they should have shut it off before posting those YouTube videos and that blog.

Now, the "City that knows how" to fuck up San Francisco wants you to get the hell away from the Castro again. If I can, I'd slap the Entertainment Commission people in the back of the head, with my belt.


Supervisor Bevan Dufty
And you are wondering, why do I have San Francisco Supervisor Bevan Dufty's photo on here? Well, this person PROMISED ON LOCAL TV CAMERAS and the NEWSPAPERS that he will return the event to the Castro in 2008.

Straight from the horse's mouth (or may I say ass):

""I'm not shutting down the neighborhood again," Dufty said Friday, acknowledging that the city's request cost some owners tens of thousands of dollars in revenue." (Chronicle 11/3/08, click here for article)

So now the liar says this in a recent article from the Bay Area Reporter:

"With Castro bars not facing a similar shutdown this year, and the city's plans to hold a free event near the Giant's ballpark moving forward..." (Bay Area Reporter Online 10/9/08, click here for article)

Well well well... Bevan Dufty makes promises that are not true. Do you know what I call people who don't tell the truth? A LIAR! A BIG FAT LIAR. DON'T EXPECT TO GET RE-ELECTED WHEN CAMPAIGN POSTERS IN THE CASTRO SAY:

DUFTY = LIAR AND HALLOWEEN KILLER

So now, the City is sponsoring this "San Francisco Halloween Festival 2008" on Halloween at the parking lot at AT&T Park, one of the worst places to even hold an event in this city.

AT&T Park Lot "A" equals bad idea
Let us go over the list of reasons why AT&T Park's Lot "A" is a terrible place. One: AT&T's parking lots are not easily accessible by Muni. We've got the "T" line, which stops right next to it, but do you realize that the platform they use for that line is only suitable to run one-car trains? That means LOW CAPACITY. Also, AT&T Park will try to gouge you as best they can, and they'll do it by charging for parking. Regular baseball games run about $30 a car, but special events similar to the shows like Cirque at the parking lot charges $20 a car. And don't forget the food, the City is already looking for greedy for-profit food booths that are used in events like the Fillmore Jazz Festival who charge a huge amount of money for food to its patrons.

So what does that mean for the Castro? That means an especially bad time for their economy. When they did have these festivals, the Castro's economy got a big boost because people needed food to eat and things to drink. So by cancelling Castro again and this economy going into a possible big recession, the Castro will suffer with the loss of revenue to the neighborhood. Why not bring it back to the original home of Halloween fun? And even last year during the shutdown, a couple of bars were open and lines were out the door! That shows you what kind of brisk business would have happened if the Castro was opened.


(Photo from City and County of San Francisco's website; public domain since my tax dollars pay for that photo and website)

Please note: My apologies if you subscribed and received a blank posting with only Dufty's photo on it.

Halloween in the Castro 2007 - Financial Bust & Stupid Campaign

I'm not sure to say if the "stay at home" campaign really was successful, but there is one thing that I can be clear about this:

• There were far fewer people, but there were still hundreds of people on the sidewalks.
• Now sure, it kept people off the street, but at least nobody not stabbed, shot, or went on live TV to say "Fox news is bullshit!"
  

In one way, it could be a success, but just at what financial cost?

Critics (including myself) say that this was a financial nightmare.

1. 600 police officers in the area alone, at an estimated $50/hr for six hours (6PM to midnight) = an estimated $180,000 in taxpayer money. $210,000 if it was seven hours.
   
2. Additional parking/meter maids to enforce parking policies: Definitely thousands of dollars.
3. City paid portable toilets: Thousands of dollars, and neighbors smelling blue chemical toilet scents.
4. Steel fencing on the sidewalks: Gotta pay the city workers to put those up.
5. Tow trucks: $250 towing fine
6. Closing down BART at 16th street & Mission station: Paying for transit employees to transport riders and ADA passengers by van from 24th st. & Mission.
7. Providing a bus bridge due to closure of Muni Metro stations: Plenty of dollars to pay for diesel gasoline.
8. Hiring Muni drivers to transport 600 cops: Bus driver salary + gasoline cost.
   
9. And of course, my favorite: Hiring David Perry & Associates to make a lame poster campaign and cheap youtube quality videos: $40,000.

Talking about party poopers, here's a list of people who had to ruin the event for everyone:

1. Mayor Gavin Newsom
2. Chief Heather Fong
3. The FBI (what the hell? Was Osama going to pee on the sidewalk?)
4. Supervisor Duffy (hmmm... hiding the fact to the press that porta toilets were coming? Fuck! They were going to find out anyway!)
   
5. David Perry & Associates
6. The SFPD's SWAT Team for putting sharpshooters on the roof (as stated by KTVU).
7. Restaurant and Bar Operators who shut down (if you have two dozen people waiting in line at an open bar, sure as hell, you should have opened-up!)
8. Muni (a.k.a. SFMTA)
   
9. BART
10. The SFPD for arresting a person for j-walking (damn, they usually just give a ticket)

The city is promising for the 2008 Castro Halloween party. Supervisor Duffy said on the news that since 2008's Halloween will be on a Friday, they will organize an appropriate Halloween party. THE ORGANIZING OF NEXT YEAR'S SHOULD START TODAY.

Ok... then why didn't you organize this year's? Since there was "9" shootings, you had since November 1, 2006 to organize something safe, sure seems that they pulled this one off in their butthole at the last minute.

LET'S SEE IF THEY WILL KEEP THIS PROMISE.

The Lamest No Halloween In the Castro Advertising Campaign EVER

I'm sorry, but giving $40,000 in taxpayer dollars for this lame looking logo is a waste of MY TAX MONEY I PAY TO THE CITY I LIVE IN.



So who did San Francisco hire to do this FUCKING LAME campaign? Well, David Perry & Associates. Go watch their lame quality videos on YouTube, where they used the KRON studios to make their cheap videos with F-grade celebrities that I don't know who the hell they are.

Do you see these PSA videos on other news stations (KTVU, KPIX, KGO, and KNTV)? Fuck no! That's because the video quality is lame, and nobody wants to present something that is sponsored by KRON (the worst TV station in town, full of people beating the shit out of each other, dumb reality programs, their poorly rated telenovelas, infomercials during the weekends, "D" movies at night, and a guy named Dr. Phil, who doesn't really have a PhD in his "appropriate" field).

I just love my own YouTube video, and IT WAS FREE TO MAKE!

The videos and poster campaign is so lame, that it ENCOURAGES people to go.

It makes you wonder, where really did the $40,000 go? I'm betting that it's in their pockets. To go cheap on the production of those color fliers, just produce the massive number of posters at some child factory in a foreign country (just like your clothes from the GAP).

So, will you go and resist Newsom and David Perry & Associates? I think so.

Remember folks, be safe, and if the riot cops want to fuck with you, remember to bring a camera to record the evidence.

Party in the Castro? It is still going to happen!

WATCH MY BRAND NEW ANTI-PSA VIDEO: YES TO CASTRO HALLOWEEN!


As many local Bay Area residents know, the Castro Halloween party is always a popular street event in the Castro district of San Francisco. But last year's developments, including a shooting and some stabbing have made the the government leaders of San Francisco turn their backs on this popular event.

I don't usually go to Halloween parties in the first place, because I enjoy staying home and giving out candy to the neighbor kids who always visit. But I support the Castro party for these particular reasons:

1. The City and County of San Francisco FAILED to follow through with an alternative event to be held somewhere on the Port of San Francisco or at AT&T Park. By being a sanctioned event, there can be an appropriate investment into assuring the safety of guests.
2. The campaign to force people to stay away from the Castro has gone cheap. Have you seen their PSAs lately? They just look like shit. See the three ads on Youtube here, here, and here. Also, who the fuck are these people? Never heard of them in my life. Also, I've learned that the ads were produced in the KRON studios... yeah, KRON, San Francisco's shittiest news station in town. The only thing good about KRON is getting my lotto numbers and staring at Darya Folsom in the morning before I switch back to "Morning's on 2." If KRON viewership is at a low, why would people watch these PSAs in the first place?
1. The city gave a lot of money to do ad campaigns to resist this event, but by looking at the quality of their child made posters and TV ads, you could have asked those media majors at a college to make much better quality material.
   
3. Do you really think the cops will be arresting and beating-up people? Looks like we are going back to the days when the SFPD dragged gays out of the bars of the Castro to seek revenge for burning their cop cars during a protest rally after Dan White got a slap on the wrist for assassinating Moscone and Milk?

I'm really going to bet that something bad is going to happen, and if the police really fucks this event up this year with arrests and riot gear, get ready for a big backlash. Remember SF Citizens, Mayor Newsom is up for election on November 6, 2007, just seven days after the Halloween party. You can vote for someone else to make him lose the race if his idea of shutting down the Castro fails.

IF YOU DO GO:
Bring a camera and/or a digital video recorder.
--Record cops in action if things start going wrong.
Go in large numbers.
Don't bring alcohol or weapons.
The big goal: Make it look like things are normal and that the event is going so well that everyone is happy.