by Amanda Witherell
It’s almost fair and festival season in San Francisco, but we’ll see if some actually get a chance to be staged in the neighborhoods where they were born.
The North Beach Festival had a setback yesterday at the Operations Committee of the Recreation and Park Commission. According to festival organizer, Marsha Garland, commissioners Megan Levitan and Tom Harrison expressed concern about alcohol being consumed in city parks and the committee decided to kick the issue up to the full commission. Last year the same issues came up and Garland had made some changes to her proposal — no sale of booze in the park and more fencing of the masses — in order to mitigate concerns that the park and surrounding neighborhood are adversely affected rather during the two days of the festival. Garland and many merchants and citizens consider the festival a boon, bringing additional commerce and attention to their area of the city. An anti-group thinks the hood doesn’t need it.
Meanwhile, the future of the Haight Street Fair is being discussed tonight at the Park Branch Library, from 7 to 9 pm. Some key city and neighborhood planners will be there and it’s sponsored by the HAIGHT ASHBURY NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL (For more information, call Karen Fishkin, 921-2032).