Bring $2 to ring in 2009 in Carytown

Planning to ring in the new year in Carytown on Wednesday night?

Plan on bringing your wallet.

The third annual street party promises to be bigger and more organized than ever.

It'll be so big, in fact, organizers say they are having to resort to asking for a $2 donation (under 12 free with adult) to help pay what's expected to be a $125,000 to $130,000 bill -- including nearly $60,000 for security -- to stage the event.

And it won't be nearly as open as the first two years. This year, there will be controlled entry points, wristbands and a police presence that will be evident on streets, rooftops and in the air.

Last year, the event cost $98,000 and drew about 14,000, but it didn't include nearly the security planned for this year.

"It would be nice to see the city absorb some of the cost," said Raylene Wilkinson, the president of the Carytown Merchants Association and the proprietor of Raylene's Pennyrich, a bra shop on West Cary Street. "But they seem to want to see how it goes first."

A year after paying city police $15,000 for security, the merchant group was quoted a price of $45,000 for this year, Wilkinson said. The fee was negotiated to $30,000, but to get there, the merchants had to hire private security and agree to construct a temporary emergency vehicle lane down the middle of West Cary Street.

The private security firm, at a cost of $17,000, will handle duties the police won't, including checking for alcohol at entrances and making sure underage patrons don't buy beer.

The ambulance lane -- $10,000 to $12,000 worth of rented metal bicycle racks, placed end-on-end the length of the street to create north and south party zones separated by a pathway -- is a first in the shopping district. Nothing like it was employed during the first two New Year's Eve parties, or the annual Watermelon Festival, which attracts up to 125,000 people.

There was no charge to enter the event during its first two years. No one wanted to charge this year, Wilkinson said, but it couldn't be avoided.

"It's a reasonable donation so we can continue to do this," Wilkinson said. "We don't want to be the ones who say money is the reason we can't."

A block east on West Cary Street, Byrd Theatre manager Todd Schall-Vass said no good will come of the fee.

"It's going to create a lot of ill will," he said of the cover charge. "People are going to feel like they've been had."

He said the city is more geared to stopping fun than promoting it.

"I haven't heard anyone say, 'We want to see how this can work,'" he said. "They're just putting up a barrier. Here we're putting on a positive event. They should be helping, but their attitude seems to be more that it's more trouble than it's worth."

City Councilman E. Martin Jewell, whose 5th District includes Carytown, said he was surprised to hear the complaints.

"The first I heard of [these problems] was Tuesday," Jewell said. "I'm just a little dumbstruck and confounded."

He said he would do what he could when city offices reopen tomorrow after a short holiday break.

"We're going to give it the old college try," he said.

Jewell said the event is too important to be dragged down by controversies.

"It has the potential of being a huge attraction," he said. "As far as I can tell, there's nothing like it anywhere near here. They did it, and they did it right last year."

Councilwoman Kathy C. Graziano, who represents the 4th District, said the complaints were the first she'd heard, too. She quickly admitted she wasn't involved in any stage of the event but did think it a positive for the city.

"The thing that's really neat about this is, it's all private," she said. "This hasn't been the city. It's been private. That's pretty cool. It's sort of encouraging."

Encouragement has a price, though.

"I'd hope for a different kind of atmosphere," Wilkinson said. "This is in Carytown, but it's an event for the whole city."

Schall-Vass said it is exactly the kind of event the city claims to want but rarely succeeds in creating on its own.

"Here's something that's already a success," he said. "Help us make this work."
Contact Zachary Reid at (804) 775-8179 or .