Arts Festival Trips Up Fund-Raiser : Crime Stoppers’ Run Becomes Victim of Scheduling Snafu

The annual fund-raising run sponsored by Crime Stoppers has fallen victim to Mayor Maureen O’Connor’s Soviet arts festival in a scheduling snafu that has the city and the local law-enforcement booster group holding each other responsible.

Both groups want control of the streets near the Civic Theatre on the night of Oct. 21--Crime Stoppers for the 16,000 runners and spectators expected to participate in its third annual 10-kilometer fund-raiser, the city to protect dignitaries expected for the opening night of O’Connor’s highly publicized “Treasures of the Soviet Union” featuring the opera “Boris Godunov.”

Something had to give, and it wasn’t going to be the opera.

“We were under the definite impression that the Oct. 21 date was ours, that (the city) knew about it, and we could go ahead,” said Molly Wilson-Cartmill, executive director of Crime Stoppers.

Although Crime Stoppers hasn’t submitted the formal application package needed to guarantee the date because it is still making final adjustments to the 10K route, organizers say they have been speaking with city officials about the date since the 1988 race. This year would mark the third year of the race, traditionally held on the Saturday night before Halloween, which falls during the annual Crime Prevention Month.

Crime Stoppers pays out rewards to anonymous tipsters who help police solve crimes. The number of payoffs has been especially high during the past three months, and the run is the organization’s largest fund-raising event, Wilson-Cartmill said.

Wilson-Cartmill said she and another staff member have told Peg Nugent, the city’s special events coordinator, about the date on several occasions, most recently during a daytime march against crime staged by O’Connor in May.

Working With Police to Set Route

In addition, the organization has been working with the San Diego Police Department for several months to set the route, which starts at the Omni Hotel and winds north up 5th Avenue toward Balboa Park before doubling back down 6th Avenue to Market Street and back to the hotel. The group also plans to close the 6th Avenue exit off northbound Interstate 5 for the race, held at night to make a statement about making streets safe.

But Nugent, festival director Bruce Herring and mayoral arts aide Sal Giametta claim that they first heard of the Crime Stoppers plan July 26, when a Crime Stoppers board member phoned to determine whether the race would conflict with the arts festival.

Noting that timing for the arts festival was determined more than a year ago, Herring said it would be impossible to flood downtown streets with flash light-toting runners, given the chance that national and international dignitaries may be attending the opera. President Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev are among the invitees.

“We expect some VIPs and dignitaries to be there that night,” Herring said. “We’re concerned about security, traffic control and the general confusion that you would have trying to do two major events at the same time.”

Nugent also cited a 2-year-old city ordinance requiring approval of a written application package to guarantee a date, a law passed expressly to avoid situations like these. Wilson-Cartmill said that she could not submit the application until final adjustments in the route are completed.

Wilson-Cartmill said that Herring offered subsequent Saturday nights Oct. 28 and Nov. 4, then retracted the offers. Crime Stoppers now is polling its sponsors about the city’s latest offer, Sunday, Nov. 12. The event must be held before the start of the Christmas shopping season to garner support of downtown merchants who are traditional sponsors, Wilson-Cartmill said.

“I know that crime is an important issue to this city, and we do a lot to help,” Wilson-Cartmill said. “I don’t think they’re doing this to us on purpose, but it’s just a shame that we can’t do it when we want to do it.”