Turkey Crawl Leads to Heated Debate

It's the time of year when Bradenton's College Students return home from their colleges across the state and the country. For some students, it will be the first time they will be back in town since they went away last August for downtown merchants it will be "the biggest night of the year" as those same students head downtown for the annual Turkey Crawl.

Traditionally this has been a raucous event as Bradenton's young people reunite with their friends and hundreds of others who come in for an early holiday celebration. All of those visitors cram in together in Bradenton's downtown bars and the party can get wild.

Last year an impromtu pumpkin toss started downtown with hundreds of pumpkins that lined the street as decorations. In the end, the city's sanitation workers were called in on Thanksgiving Day to clean up the mess. And the city had to foot the overtime bill.

It seemed that the event wouldn't happen this year when no application had been submitted to the city and the event was not placed on the City Council agenda for approval. But at the end of Wednesday's council meeting Bemis Smith brought up the Turkey Crawl and tonight's Get Down Downtown and asked council members to consider approving them, even though they were not on the agenda.

The two last-minute applications, while not totally unexpected, prompted a debate that highlights some of the frustrations over downtown events, how they are organized and who pays for them. Issues over public safety, underage drinking, city clean-up and who pays for it all came up for debate but little was resolved before the City Council unanimously approved both events.

THE ISSUES

While the city routinely approves a Get Down Downtown event every month, it is working to improve the applications process and to bring in a wider variety of bands and vendors to the monthly event. But it was the Turkey Crawl that prompted the most concern after last years event had some bars dangerously overcrowded and sanitation workers had to be called in on Thanksgiving Day to work on overtime pay to clean up the mess left behind.

The city's fire marshal said he will send out letters to bar owners this year warning them that if their bars become overcrowded again this year that he will shut their businesses down for the night. The bars were so overcrowded last year, he said, people were standing back to back creating a dangerous situation if a fire or other emergency were to occur.

Smith, however, bristled at the idea that the fire marshall could close down a business even for a night. He questioned whether the fire marshall really has the power to shut down a business. Smith said shutting down a business, even for a night, could harm Bradenton's reputation as "The Friendly City."

The council, however, acknowledged that public safety is paramount and asked Kenneth Langston, the fire marshal, to send out letters to bar owners reminding them not to exceed capacity and that they would be shut down this year if they did.

The conversation offered a glimpse into the frustrations city officials and businesses deal with downtown as they try to promote businesses and activity as the city struggles with a tight budget and limited resources.

While Smith knew that bringing up the two events at the last minute would stir a debate, he tried to pre-empt it, saying he got tired of hearing from "the biddy pool."

"We come up with what could happen," he said. "Let's just tell them what we want to do. If there's not a problem jumping out at me, I am not looking for it."

But Smith later admitted that he had no idea about the problems around last year's Turkey Crawl, which had even the downtown merchants frustrated and angry.

Councilman Gene Gallo agreed that he doesn't want to prevent any events from coming downtown, but he tempered that by saying that the events have to be safe for people attending and those living in the city.

For each event, the city's police department assigns officers to patrol the streets and bars to help keep people safe. The chief estimates the number of officers it will need and the businesses pay a fee for the service during the events.

But sometimes the crowds are larger than anticipated and the city pays for the extra officers on call, the crowds don't leave downtown when the event ends and businesses don't want them to, but clean-up takes place immediately after the event and often by the time the crowds actually go home, another clean-up is necessary and again the city pays for that clean-up.

Councilwoman Marianne Barnebey, who represents residents in and around downtown and often gets the phone calls complaining about trash, noise and other problems after downtown events, has been the lone voice on the council for more oversight and organization.

In an effort to be proactive, she recently met with several of the city's department heads to design an application process and procedures for the growing number of downtown events, to try to save the city money and to set expectations for those who have events.

While several officers are out patrolling events, the crowds can get so big it is impossible for them to check every bar for underage drinkers and to make sure that everyone with a drink purchased it at a bar. Often after events cans and bottles are scattered on the streets downtown and broken glass is in various parking lots.

WHO PAYS?

The tension between the city and the event planners and local merchants is about who pays for post party clean-up and policing. While the event has officially ended, the streets are still closed for public safety reasons and the crowds tend to stay until the bars close so that means that the crownds continue to generate trash and noise into the early morning hours and the city is left to foot the bill.

Some argue that offering clean-up for a vibrant nightlife is a city's responsbility, while others argue that those who profit off of the events should pay for clean-up and security so that taxpayer's in general don't have to foot the bill.

While Barnebey often gets calls from people and some of the businesses downtown, other Council members say they have never gotten any complaints about the downtown events. And while nearly everyone heard about the problems at last year's Turkey Crawl, Smith said he was totally unaware of the problems.

Barnebey promised that wouldn't happen again this year, saying that if she got calls on Thanksgiving morning she would give out everyone else's numbers too. Gallo said she was welcome to give out his office number, but that he didn't want calls on Thanksgiving day. Smith also offered his office number, which he said would ring through to he cell phone.