Crowded Saturday Disaster

First thing Sunday morning at the Streets of London Pub located in midtown Sacramento 4 people were shot, one resulting in a death.  Victor Hugo Perez Zavala, 24, was one of the thousands of people attending Second Saturday, a community event for midtown art viewers and galleries, and sadly someone took his life about 12:13a.m.

This out of ordinary crime is unexplained, but has managed to stir conversation across the Sacramento region.  The largest debate is about whether or not Second Saturday should be continued.


Midtown neighbors are unhappy about the recent dynamic of Second Saturday.  the event was originally created to drawn in art viewers to the galleries, and was a quiet event.  Now the event draws over 10,000 people even though the art galleries doors close at ten crowds still continue to loiter the streets and reek havoc at the nearby nightclubs and bars.

It must not be overlooked that with any event this large crowd control is a difficult and necessary task.  Organizers of Second Saturday understood this and even paid to have 5 extra police forces.   The event organizers and merchant participants are doing what they can to patrol this large event.

Nonetheless, the merchants are still frustrated with the large crowds because it has also become their problem.  Shoplifting in local stores increases during Second Saturday due to the large crowd.

Even though they would like to close their doors during this event they can not afford to pass on an estimated 1,000 customers.  During this national recession any business is appreciated by these merchants.   Second Saturday draws in new customers to the local stores and has a huge business impact in all of midtown area.

If anything Second Saturday may need tighter patrol and guidelines in businesses and on the streets, but it should not be taken away from Sacramento citizens.  It is one of the few events left that create that midtown feeling and without it Sacramento and midtowns businesses will suffer.

Perhaps one solution would be to hold Second Saturday on a different day, or earlier in the day.  Saturday night, as well as Friday, are popular nights for people to go out to the clubs and bars, such as Streets of London.  However, if the Second Saturday event was held on a Sunday early afternoon, it would attract a different crowd of people and get rid of the crowd that are causing the problems. 

Nevertheless, an event such as Second Saturday, is vital to our community and to our local businesses, and as a community we should support the event regardless of what a couple people have done.