No Fair, No Party

A City of San Diego employee says that the support of Discover PB and savepb.org is vital for the issuance of a PB Block Party permit. The insider says longtime organizer Kevin Hellman would have to get letters of endorsement from both of those groups. Discover PB, a city-sponsored business group made up of 1200 PB business owners, has said it would not support Hellman in his quest for a 2006 event. Savepb.org seems unlikely to give its approval.

"We provided written comments about the Block Party [to the city] that we collected," says Marcie Beckett, a savepb.org chairperson. "I would say those comments were 99.99 percent opposed. My opinion is the residents and business owners are overwhelmingly opposed to that street fair."

Beckett says her group supports a street event that would replace the Block Party, "...one that all the community groups would come together and agree on."

Hellman has no comment. Two months ago he said he wanted to hold a "PB Street Fair" on April 22. Last May, an estimated 130,000 turned out to see 43 bands play at the 30th annual PB Block Party.