Napa Police: "We're Here to Take Care of the Neighbors" During BottleRock

Napa police and fire officials said Wednesday they will make sure they respond to all Napa Valley Expo neighbors' concerns during the

"We're here to take care of the neighbors and the businesses in the neighborhood," said Napa Police Capt. Steve Potter. "And that's what we're going to do."

Potter said security at BottleRock will be even tighter than usual in light of the Boston Marathon bombings on Monday.

"Everyone who enters will be searched," said Chung Kuo, festival director. "If they refuse to be searched, they will be turned away."

He said small bags will be allowed -- but no duffels or large backpacks.

"We have added security and put a very extensive security plan in place," Potter said. "It runs 20 pages -- it is very detailed and covers even the highly improbable events."

Potter and Kuo made their remarks before about 200 people at the second public meeting to address neighborhood concerns on BottleRock Napa Valley. The first meeting was April 8.

Wednesday's meeting, held at Chardonnay Hall at the Expo Center, lasted about 1 1/2 hours as Potter, Kuo, Napa Fire Division Chief John Calanan, California Highway Patrol Capt. Chris Childs and BottleRock site operations manager Kohn Dwight spelled out plans and fielded questions.

Among the major announcements:

--Access placards: Each neighboring household should receive placards in the mail by May 1, or else they will be hand-delivered. These will allow residents to get in and out of their homes during road closures. Each placard will have an emergency phone number on it for residents to call if there are problems.

"I'm at the heart of the hard and soft closures," said Rian Lindley. "I'm at the corner of Third and Juarez -- I have no idea how I'm going to get in and out."

Potter told Lindley that the placards would provide access to and from her home. If neighbors are having visitors or house-sitters, they need to give the visitors a note with the homeowners' identification so that police will give them access.

--Free buses for local Napa attendees: BottleRock will run free buses every 20 minutes for pickups at the Vine bus stops between Trancas Street and the Expo, including stops at Soscol Avenue, Jefferson and Lincoln streets and at Napa and Vintage high schools.

Local community groups will offer low-cost park and ride spaces at the two high schools on Saturday and Sunday; BottleRock buses will also stop at regular park and rides, such as at Trancas and Solano streets.

--Parking: A map listing all the designated BottleRock parking areas has been drafted and will be published shortly on the BottleRock website, said Hugh Linn of Riechers Spence & Associates, civil engineers hired by BottleRock to manage the traffic plan.

Almost 14,000 spaces have been set aside at Napa Pipe, Napa Valley College, Napa and Vintage high schools and other private parking areas.

"According to the Napa Specific Plan, there are only about 1,000 parking spaces available or underused in downtown Napa at any given time," Linn said. "Those will fill up very fast."

He said locals who try to park downtown and walk to BottleRock should be aware that their cars could be towed if the cars are blocking any emergency access or are in violation of parking regulations.

"We're trying to encourage people to bike or use the buses," Linn said. Tended valet parking for bicycles will be available at the Expo, Dwight said.

Property owners who don't want BottleRock attendees to park on their property may post "No Parking" signs, Potter said. Procedures for the postings are listed on the Napa City website, he said.

"We expect parking to be heavy here and downtown," Potter said. "There will be a ripple-out effect -- how far out, we don't know."

--Traffic: The only "hard closure" during the day will be Third Street in front of the Expo, Linn said. At night, Burnell Street will have a "hard closure" to allow people to load onto the shuttle buses to Napa Pipe and other parking locations. Other streets will have temporary "soft closures" during the day.

At night, the outside westbound lane of the Third Street Bridge will be closed to auto traffic to create a pedestrian walkway into downtown.

--Communication: All road closures and traffic alerts will be broadcast on Nixle, a free online public safety alert service. To sign up, go to www.nixle.com and choose Napa Police, Napa Fire Department and other Napa-area listings.

--Staffing: Napa Police will have 20 extra officers inside the Expo and 20 outside in the neighborhood every day. Napa Fire will have a total of 10 extra firefighters per day -- seven firefighters circulating inside the Expo and three outside with an engine on call off of Fairview Street.

CHP will have 40 extra officers per day for traffic control -- including six officers assigned in the area around Silverado Middle School.

"That area gets really locked up when the kids are coming or going," said neighbor Ed LaBrada. "We don't want some little child getting run over."

BottleRock is paying the city more than $100,000 for the extra staff, which also includes public works engineers, dispatchers and Napa County Sheriffs deputies, said Callanan. A helicopter will also be on call in Alta Heights on the east side of the reservoir.

--Alcohol, Tailgaiting: BottleRock will stop serving alcohol at 9 p.m. each night, Dwight said. Napa city regulations prohibit public drinking, so tailgaters could be at risk of being cited or arrested, Potter said.

"We're expected that most of the problems will be adult-beverage-related," he said.

--Volunteers "Ambassadors" Sought: Neighbors who want to volunteer to   assist concertgoers and to help keep tabs on the community may contact Karla Knapp, 707-318-0857 or karlanapa1@icloud.com. She is looking to sign up 100 people for six-hour shifts as available.

Knapp said she is tentatively planning a volunteers meeting on Tuesday, with the time and place to be announced.

Neighbors at Wednesday's meeting appeared mostly reassured, although Rachael Clark said she was not happy that BottleRock did not have a designated parking area for motorcycles at the Expo -- only at Napa Pipe.

"I'm a local," Clark said. "I'm not going to ride my motorcycle to BottleRock and then park 10 miles away (at Napa Pipe)." Dwight told her she would most likely have to park on the street.

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