[Photo of 7th and A from 2007 by Bob Arihood]
SantaCon is fast approaching this year… just nine days 'till Dec. 14. (And just a few more days to book your trip to Greenland!)
And the Daily News casually dropped this bit of info in a feature about this year's Con:
Sources said this year's SantaCon will kick off around Tompkins Square Park and wind its way through the East Village and the Lower East Side before jumping over to Brooklyn.
Oh. Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu Wait, was that a bad dream?
Sources said this year's SantaCon will kick off around Tompkins Square Park and wind its way through the East Village and the Lower East Side before jumping over to Brooklyn.
Start calling 311 in advance, kids!
And was there something about good news?
The organizers will reportedly share the route for the annual pub crawl with the NYPD and elected officials ahead of the event, according to the Daily News.
Uh-huh.
And?
SantaCon organizers confirmed that they also plan to have 80 helper elves along the route to coordinate traffic and make sure their Santas stay respectful to residents and local businesses.
Feel better?
And visit Neither More Nor Less for some of Bob Arihood's photos from when SantaCon visited Tompkins Square Park in 2007. Right here.
Updated high noon:
DNAinfo has an article this morning on SantaCon here.
Excerpt:
"They're going to be there until about noon, and then wind up in Brooklyn somewhere," a police source told DNAinfo New York. "Hopefully it will be a nice safe day, and hopefully things will be much better than last year."
The police source and Community Board 3 District Manager Susan Stetzer said a SantaCon organizer contacted their offices Tuesday.
Stetzer said that she spoke with a SantaCon representative through email, on the phone and in person, adding he was "very friendly and cooperative" in the "several" conversations they had.
"I am hoping management of Santas on sidewalks and streets will be improved," she said.
41 comments:
I'm psyched. This is my favorite drinking day of the year.
Seal the borders! We've got enough dipshits in Brooklyn.
Stilling praying for rain, snow and or freezing weather. This generation is the polar opposite to what could ever be called cool. They are a commercial throwback to "toga party" days but worse since they do this shit in public.
I wonder if any residents will tip bleach out of their windows on the drunks...I recall one very frustrated man in a town I used to live in doing that with rowdies on his block.
Well if "organizers" share the route with the NYPD, they're going to have to share WHO THE HELL THEY ARE. And maybe we'll finally find out who runs this thing and perhaps why they are continually protected with anonymity.
The crossover to Brooklyn ... I'm sorry, Brooklyn.
Oh for fuck's sake, not again. And they're not just passing through here, they're also *starting* here, so we'll get the highest concentration of these assholes (I suspect some disperse later on in the event or black out and don't make it further). I'd pray for heavy snow or rain, but for the sake of the homeless, I still hope the weather is decent. Damn drunks.
Also, as per DNA Info:
"Stetzer said that she spoke with a SantaCon representative through email, on the phone and in person, adding he was "very friendly and cooperative" in the "several" conversations they had.
"I am hoping management of Santas on sidewalks and streets will be improved," she said."
F*** YOU, SUSAN STETZER. Ohhh, the anonymous douche was nice to you, surely that means that they'll be an awesome edition to the neighborhood that day. Also, "improved" management? Hadn't she said that there were no complaints about the event? So what is there to "improve" on, Susan?
We really need to be vocal and complain about this this year, so we can get rid of these assholes like Hell's Kitchen did.
starting here is a good thing if you're worries about belligerent drunks, remember it's the end of the day - when people have been boozing for hours - that would be the worst.
but in all seriousness, some of you need to grow up and get over how cool you (think you) were when you were young.
A FREE BEER AND A SHOT FOR EVERY BRROKLYN HIPSTER RUN OUT OF TOWN!
Given how the East Village has evolved in the last few years, this seems an appropriate event to hold there. Most of the worst offenders probably already live in the East Village.
The reason why the police are just fine with santacon and the organizers is because one or a few of the organizers are high up members of the NYPD. That is, some whiteshirts right around 30 years old. I know as a previous attendant who knew one of them. Also, many participants are members of the NYPD as well from Long Island and Jersey.
The NYPD is cool with it because it is the NYPD.
The good news is that they're " jumping over to Brooklyn." My guess is that about 99% of them will wind up in the river.
Some of the Santas are quite handsome.
Melanie
East Village Corner
@ joe (9:01 AM):
True, maybe they'll be still relatively sober while in the EV.
On another note though, I'm 27 and don't need to "get over how cool I think I was when I was young." I'm embarrassed that my peers behave like that and as a non-transient EV resident, am within my rights to express my dissatisfaction about this event.
But I guess what bugs me even more about this... DNA Info cites a source as saying that participants will be in the EV until approx. 12pm. So they'll be staging this WOOOOO-LET'S-GET-DRUNK-BRO-NOT-A-CARE-IN-THE-WORLD event at TSP on Saturday morning, while dozens of our neighbors line up there for food from the Bowery Mission (Sat 8-11am). This might take even more dignity away from people who find themselves in need in this unforgiving city.
So high-up members of the NYPD are 30-something drunks. Great. I hope Bill Bratton cleans up this nonsense.
Susan Stetzer, you are useless.
This is fucking disgusting. Get the fuck outta here.
Stetzer spoke to the organizer but couldn't get his or her name? She must be sleeping with the organizer, literally and figuratively. Did the organizers get a permit to hold this? Did they pay fees to the city, neighborhood, and NYPD? It'll be left to the residents again to clean up the mess. And the organizers sharing the route with NYPD and having 80 elves helpers is as ineffectual and a sham as having 'respect our neighbors' sign outside of bars. Hope the new police commish would keep his record of "targeting petty crime as a means of reducing major offenses" and give out summonses/tickets to the unruly SantaConners. Better yet, hope he doesn't have to next year, if this shitshow is cancelled.
And East Village isn't evolving; it's devolving and regressing.
Why do the Santacon organizers get to remain anonymous? They are directing thousands of people to decent upon various neighborhoods and drink. The urination, defecation, vomiting and violence have brought this hijacked charity to the attention of the NYPD, local politicians and local media who are all now organized. Who is responsible???
GET MARRIED AT SANTACON
There will be an officiant at Santacon peforming ceremonies for anyone with a valid marriage license.
More Info at: http://www.marriedbygary.com/marriedbysanta.html
That way you are guaranteed that the person you're spending the rest of your life with will be a drunken lush just like you.
Happy to do the flowers for the Get Married at Santa-con. ;-)
Meanwhile, having seen the alarming state of elf-dom last year -- and debating whether to call an ambulance -- perhaps the community can "call in" to 311 (or 911?) as needed.
Hundreds, if not thousands, of drunken jackasses gathering in Tompkins Square Park on a Saturday morning. How lovely for the families in the neighborhood with children, or the people who walk their dogs in the run there.
Drunks in Tompkins Square Park on a Saturday morning? This is an outrage! They'll wake up the heroin addicts.
At least dope addicts are quiet.
Saw a young santa, all alone, unconscious on the sidewalk last year. Finally some guy called an ambulance.
Honestly; no idea if he was just drunk, or had had some kind of seizure, or had been roofied, or was actually dead. Just some kid, unresponsive laying on the sidewalk in a santa costume
its like, every article i read is all about how the police are doing everything to stop it... douchebags are always in the city, they're just easier to point out in santa suits....noone talks about the donations for toys for tots, or how theres really a whole demographic of people who go from kids to little old ladies. not just DRUNKS. yeah there are drunk people, but honestly in the six years i went i've never seen anything totally out of control that I don't already always see in the city. I think this event gets bashed more than it needs to. Halloween and NYE in the city are worse in my opinion, cancel those too.
Hey lower case 4.47. This is a parody post? Like?
Let's put a velvet rope around Tompkins Square Park!!! See you there around 7 a.m...
Oh god, 4:4, enough already with the charity angle! This is not a charitable event just because a small fraction of good-hearted SantaConners bring a few cans of soup.
If we are meant to belief SantaCon is a generous group, we're going to need financials or figures, and that would require an official spokesperson speaking to the media, not some guy on the internet saying "We raised $6,000!" like last year, or another quote from Susan Stetzer's invisible friend.
Lovely! Just another opportunity for people to become the assholes in public that they really are!
"Susan Stetzer's invisible friend." Good one, 6.57 PM. In fact, all of the Susan Stetzer related comments on this tread have been spot on.
It makes no actual sense to me that they are allowed to congregate in the park in such a large group without a permit. I'm sorry for Brooklyn, but since they've taken so much of manhattan's culture, they can have this too. Maybe by next year the Santas will make the leap and realize they should start in Brooklyn and end the pain of commuting.
Under Parks department regulations they are required to obtain a permit to hold a gathering like this in the park. The Parks enforcement police may let it go on without a permit or they may not, but technically they could force the group to leave the park or arrest people if they refuse. People have on a number of occasions where I was present been arrested for gathering in the park for protests.
How 'bout ALL East Village drinking establishments refuse to serve ALL SantaConers?
If they do that, SantaCon won't be in the EV anymore.
Would it help if we call call the local precinct this week and insist they put a stop to this gathering if SantaCon doesn't have a permit for it?
"police are doing everything to stop it" -- well, that's just not factually true. Kelly is quoted in the papers saying that NYPD is ok with it.
On the other hand, when my theater company wants to do something in a park, we are required by law to have a permit. No wiggle room allowed. These folks should too!!!
Lastly, love or hate this event. and I'm not in favor. but, Stetzer is Not the problem. Seems to me that she's just trying to walk a line that pleases the most people as much as possible. Some folks here, on both sides, will not be pleased no matter what - that's why I love this neighborhood. But, why such harshing on her... this time (other times she's far game)???
BowBoy - cb#3 has done nothing to solve the proliferation of bars and clubs in this neighborhood except to turn a long long one night SLA Committee meeting into a long long two night Committee meeting.
after over 25 years i no longer can stand to sit through those awful meetings.
while the board is only "advisory" other neighborhoods are able to use that power to get things done, but not here. the elected officials take their cues from the board and are happy to do nothing. the police like to have their problems accumulate in one area at the expense of others.
Stetzer made herself the problem when she became a mouthpiece for the shadowy Santacon organizers, quoted from DNAinfo in EVG's very story here.
She is pleasing "the most people" considering that Santacon participants number in the thousands, but most of them don't even live in the neighborhood.
Is there a glitch or are you blocking my comments? I tried to post one here and one on "Out and About the EV".
@ IzF
Sorry to hear about any glitches. I didn't disapprove any comments from you… This is the only one that I saw from you.
No Worries EV! Thanks for clearing that up!
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