Citations and cooperation follow Mardi Gras party

By Gloria I. Wang

The downtown Los Gatos businesses that threw a rockin' Mardi Gras party without gaining permission from the town will not face significant penalties, the town has decided.

Instead, each was issued citations from the Los Gatos-Monte Sereno Police Department and will have to meet with town officials for discussions on related town policies and future events.

The Feb. 12 event, sponsored by 10 bars and restaurants, came as a complete surprise to many people in town as well as police, since the businesses had neither advertised locally nor applied for a special events permit. The business owners said they were unprepared for the thousands of people who crowded the streets until 2 a.m.

Immediately after the event, Los Gatos-Monte Sereno Police Sgt. Dave Gravel said the establishments would be cited for violating various town codes, and could possibly face the revocation of their town-issued conditional-use permits to operate and their liquor licenses.

On Feb. 14, Gravel issued special event permit citations to each of the 10 and a signage violation citation to Los Gatos Bar & Grill. The citations carry fees of up to $100. The special-event violations carry fees of up to $100; because the signage citation is a violation of town zoning, it is considered a misdemeanor and will require management to appear in court, Gravel said.

Police decided, however, that pursuing permit revocation was not necessary. The businesses were honestly not expecting the volume of people who showed up, Gravel said, and were unhesitatingly cooperating with police.

"They were told to err on the side of caution when it comes to special-event permits," Gravel said. Gravel's opinion on penalization was that "probably we're going to be done with it for now."

Los Gatos Director of Community Development Bud Lortz also said management of the establishments was being cooperative. Lortz said , however, that he and Police Chief Larry Todd will meet with each of the businesses individually. In those meetings, they will go over the business' conditional-use permit, specia-l event standards for the town and the procedure for future events so that such a raucous event will not happen again.

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