The Comforting Lie

A coincidence? Hardly!:

The Midtown Business Association, which usually pays for three police officers, upped the number to five for the September event but doesn't want ownership, said Executive Director Rob Kerth.

...Kerth insists the shooting last weekend was a coincidence, since it happened hours after the official 10 p.m. end of Second Saturday. He highlights the importance of the monthly occurrence which helps the association's 450 businesses stay afloat.

The group supported Alcoholic Beverage Control officers stepping up the battle against public drinking – about 100 citations were written last Saturday, Kerth said.

The Sacramento Bee editors parrot the official line:

The shooting – the city's 24th homicide this year – happened more than two hours after the official end of Second Saturday. While police say that more people go bar-hopping, loiter into the wee hours and sometimes cause trouble on Second Saturdays than on other Saturday nights, they are not, by and large, attending the event itself.

It all depends on what one means by the loaded phrase "attending the event." It's true, by and large, that the young partiers are not art customers, or customers of the merchants in general, so in that sense they might be said to not be "attending the event." Nevertheless, they are present before, during, and particularly after the event. To me, that counts as "attending the event."

I'm heartened that not everyone buys this false distinction. Some people are paying close attention to what's going on. I like Mr. Flanagan's ideas, particularly the idea about having an artist/gallery owner coalition in charge. It's in the interest of the Midtown Business Association to have as many people in Midtown as possible. Not everyone should agree. Artists and gallery owners would likely want to focus more on quality than quantity:

Michael Flanagan, entertainment director for Running Stream Gallery which opened at 21st and K streets on Saturday, disagrees.

Flanagan, who is planning a dinner and auction at the gallery as a fundraiser for the family of the man who was killed last weekend, believes Second Saturday should occur earlier during the day to prevent the overlap with nightclub-goers and he said a coalition of artists and gallery owners should take charge.

"You used to see strollers and families out there," he said. "Now it's hoodlums and gangs, and it's really taken away from the arts."