Halloween in Santa Barbara: Chapel Hill with cliffs

As Chapel Hill prepares to scale down Halloween, officials in Santa Barbara, Calif., say they face similar challenges in making sure their own celebration doesn’t get out of hand.

In the Isla Vista district of Santa Barbara, students at the University of California at Santa Barbara throw an annual unsanctioned Halloween celebration that in many ways resembles Chapel Hill’s party on Franklin Street.

Erik Ramey, a sergeant at the Isla Vista substation of the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department, said that between 30,000 and 50,000 people come from all over California for the festivities.

Homes along those two streets open their doors to revelers, and people roam the streets for most of the evening, stopping in at the houses periodically for parties.

“You might look at it and think it looks like Mardi Gras, but it’s actually 10 times worse than Mardi Gras,” Ramey said. “It has a huge negative impact on the community.”

Marc Burdick, the continuous quality improvement coordinator for Santa Barbara Emergency Medical Services, said they have had as many as 20 people calling 911 over the course of one hour on Halloween night.

Exacerbating the situation is the location of the festivities — the homes hosting the parties are located on the edge of coastal cliffs. One or two people typically fall down the cliffs every year, Burdick said.

There have been no fatalities, but there have been internal injuries and broken bones, he said.

Measures implemented by the sheriff’s office and by EMS have in past years cost the city almost $500,000 for things such as overtime salaries for EMS personnel and police staff.

UC-Santa Barbara student Rachel Garcia said that students are fairly responsible and many of the problems on Halloween are caused by visitors, not locals or students.

“We hear complaints from the locals that Halloween should be a local event,” Ramey said, adding that the majority of those arrested are from out of town.

Chapel Hill officials have said they want the party on Franklin Street, which last year drew about 80,000 revelers, to be a local party for similar reasons.

Both Ramey and Burdick said that many health problems — ranging from alcohol poisoning to minor scrapes and bruises — occur because of the large amounts of alcohol individuals consume and because of the size of the crowd.

“It’s dangerous for the unaware, and it’s dangerous for those who choose to get too intoxicated,” Ramey said.

The sheriff’s office increases the number of foot patrol officers in the Isla Vista area from 20 to 200 for the night, Ramey said.

The EMS also takes additional safety measures. Burdick said they set up a triage tent that can treat injured patients or those who consume too much alcohol.

Ramey and Burdick both said they think these measures are functioning well to keep the rest of the emergency response units free to respond to emergencies unrelated to Halloween.



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