Thinking About Last "Second Saturday"

I was impressed, and rather startled, with how quickly a specific meme was inserted into public consciousness by elected officials, and others, in the news coverage that followed last Saturday's Midtown shooting. This meme struck me as half-true at best, or perhaps altogether false.

The meme was that there was a profound difference between typical early-evening Second Saturday attendees - the light-drinking art crowd - and those that remained on the streets after Second Saturday formally ended, at 10 p.m. Judging from the coverage, you'd think Second Saturday ended promptly at 10 p.m., and that a whole bunch of new people, mostly young drinkers, descended on Midtown right afterwards. But Second Saturday doesn't end promptly at 10 p.m., and I doubt a wave of partiers just started appearing at that time.

First impressions are usually the most important, and this what was on the Web last week:

Homicide investigators are trying to determine what caused the shooting. They're also investigating whether the shooting was connected to a fight between two large groups of people earlier Saturday evening, he said.

The shooting occurred after Second Saturday had concluded and police do not think the crowds gathered had been taking part in the art event.

"They were clearly loitering out there," von Schoech said.

To me, however, it seemed like young drinkers have been there all along, mixed in with everyone else (and for all I know perhaps slowly getting more and more drunk) as the evening passed by. In May, when I walked the streets around the magical witching hour of 10 p.m., it all seemed fairly rowdy already.

At first, I thought this sharp 10 p.m. distinction was being hastily made in the press in order to reassure most Second Saturday attendees, and the merchants that serve them, that the police weren't targeting them. Perhaps that is partly true.

Nevertheless, as SN&R explains, this last Second Saturday was the first time that a 10 p.m. youth curfew was enforced, so at least in the mind of officialdom, 10 p.m. was a sharp demarcation point, whether the crowd knew it, or not:

This past Second Saturday, city officials tried a new approach to quell the mob of teenagers and 20-somethings that overtakes 20th and J streets each month. As the evening progressed, police dramatically ratcheted up their presence, arrested minors for violating curfew and directed loiterers to head elsewhere. The goal was to curb underage drinking and crime, but the result was the worst-case scenario: shots fired, three wounded, one dead.

And while Mayor Kevin Johnson and Midtown leaders contend that the killing, which occurred less than two blocks from 20th Street, had nothing to do with Second Saturday, there’s every indication that the shooting may have been a consequence of a troubling young crowd and a ton of police.

Signs of trouble first appeared around 8:30 p.m., when a throng of mostly under-25 kids—some likened it to a high-school quad—engulfed the block between J and K near the MARRS building. City police had intended to keep 20th open to vehicle traffic, unlike past Second Saturdays, but surrendered to the pack and shut it down anyway.

During this time, there was visible evidence of open alcohol containers, in addition to two fights.

At 10 p.m., the plan to enforce curfew went into effect. Police cars began rolling up and down 20th, lights flashing and blaring announcements:

“Ladies and gentleman, Second Saturday is now over.”

“If you do not vacate the area and are under 18 years old, you will be subject to arrest.”

The higher confrontational stance required of the police for enforcing a curfew may have been that extra factor - that straw on the camel's back - that explains why this last Second Saturday, and not the previous ones this summer, ended in violence. Second Saturday has been getting rowdier for months, so perhaps it was an accident waiting to happen, as they say. But that extra factor of enforcement of a 10 p.m. youth curfew shouldn't be ignored.

Interestingly, no one in the rest of the press, or any elected officials, mentioned the youth curfew at all in their public statements. It's as if it didn't occur! Perhaps forgetfulness about the youth curfew, like other errors of omission, will help reassure most of the light-drinking art crowd, but it doesn't reassure me. If just a portion of the crowd is being targeted, then as someone who works in Midtown, I need to know that. If there is something that is angering the crowd surrounding me, I need to know.

It's interesting how quickly something as seemingly-simple as Second Saturday can get lost in a miasma of half truths once the bullets start flying!