The city’s back in the Last Thursday business—at least for tonight.
Faced with the resignation earlier this week of a volunteer board that’s run the popular, if controversial, event since 2011, Mayor Charlie Hales announced today that city bureaus will not only be paying to close off 15 blocks of Alberta this evening, they’ll also provide security and porta-potties.
Those functions had been handled by Friends of Last Thursday, but members of the group announced on Sunday they’d be stepping down amidst conflict with the mayor’s office on a proposed shrinking of the event. The precise details of that conflict are still in debate. FoLT has claimed Hales’ office set new conditions for the group to get a permit for the event this month—including decreasing the event by three blocks and shutting it down an hour earlier, at 9 pm. The mayor’s office, meanwhile, says it made those suggestions as part of a dialogue with the group, not as mandates.
Following FoLT’s resignation, the mayor’s office announced it would pick up leadership of Last Thursday for this month, without its proposed changes.
The suggestions/mandates came after FoLT was unable to meet volunteer, security and porta-potty goals Hales set for May’s event. Among those goals, according to the volunteer group, was that one toilet be provided for every 125 attendees. It’s unclear whether the city will meet those standards tonight.
It’s also not clear what the blow-up will cost taxpayers. In the past, the operation of Last Thursday has set the city back around $10,000 a month. We’ve got calls and an e-mail in to Hales’ office about the expected costs.
Hales, by the way, expects to attend tonight’s festivities. According to his calendar, the mayor will be on-hand from 8:30 pm to the 10 pm closure.
The problem with the back and forth between FoLT and City Hall has always been that the default has always been for no one to be in charge of Last Thursday. It will go on regardless. Therefore the City has not leverage, and every time the volunteer FoLT gets exasperated they can just walk away.
I am sympathetic to FoLT. I was there at the first big public meeting 3 or so years ago, and the city took the sign-up sheet of people who basically said “I’d like to get more information of Last Thursday issues”. And the City sent those people an email that said “you are now part of a volunteer group in charge of the event.” That was the genesis of FoLT. Many people on that list, including myself, were not fans of the event, but critics, and now were being told, you are responsible for getting it in line. I and many residents were sick of the event, why should we be made responsible for it? I’d rather it just goes away altogether.
Over the next couple of years FoLT evolved to have more supportive people in charge, as it should have. But the basic dynamic is the same that this is a group of people that the City basically created and drafted into being involved. So when the City takes a hostile stance against FoLT, the reaction is (with some justification), “Hey we’re doing this for free as a favor asked for by the City. We don’t need the aggravation.” And they walk away.
Part of the problem with Last Thursday is that, as always, there are very vocal minorities on both sides driving the debate.
On one side, you’ve got the idealistic / naive (delete as appropriate depending on personal biases) group who think there should be absolutely no regulation under any circumstances.
On the other side, you’ve got the people who want it cancelled because it causes tiny inconveniences on five days a year.
Seems like the vast majority of people, both those who live there (like me) and those who don’t, are somewhere in between. As normal. A bit of regulation is good, too much is bad (e.g. requiring permits for vendors would destroy it, and turn it into yet another identikit street fare like Mississippi / Hawthorne / Belmont etc already have with the exact same vendors at each).
I have lived one block of Alberta for 4 years now, and have never seen any drunken loutish behavior whatsoever – despite having three bars within two blocks of us. But I do sympathize with the noise and parking complaints. And I’d happily support a requirement for all the bars to provide Portapotties (since they’re the ones profiting most, and also the biggest cause of the need for them). Force the bar owners to take on the organization. I suspect there will be, literally, thousands of other people there tonight who would agree to that. But that’s the moderate solution, so it doesn’t get the same attention as the alarmist “anarchists are pissing on my lawn” or “the city want to shut down Last Thursday” headlines.
I’ve never waited more than a few minutes to use a portaloo, but I could see how having them located more frequently near every intersection for instance, would reduce the lawn-pissers who can’t be bothered to walk another block or 2, to the cluster of portaloos. It is all about smarter spending, not bigger spending. To reduce the primary contributor to the high city cost, reduce the police presence. It is insane how many police patrol the event. This is made doubly true given how peaceful and self regulating the event is to begin with. This is a serious costly mistake the city often pushes on to the public. I would also love to see Last Thursday open till midnight or even later, not shutting it down earlier. Keep it simple, cheap, and fun. It is just a fun night out, let’s not ‘organize’ or ‘police’ the fun out of it.