On Oct 31, from 12 a.m. to 7 a.m., the City of San Luis Obispo is considered a Safety Enhancement Zone, according to chapter 9.22 of the city’s municipal codes. Enacted by the SLO city council, the Safety Enhancement Zone designates that fines for municipal code violations such as noise, unruly gatherings, social hosting, public urination and open container increase.
The city council enacts this zone around holidays including Halloween, Mardi Gras and St. Patrick’s Day and the beginning of the year at Cal Poly.
“We want to encourage folks if they are going to be out and about enjoying their weekend, we want folks to essentially make good decisions,” SLO Police Department Public Affairs Manager Christine Wallace said.
Fines for unruly gathering – which according to the city’s website includes twenty or more people on private property causing a disturbance – start at $1,000 during the zone. Regularly, this code violation would result in a fine starting at $700.
Fines for noise, public urination and open containers are doubled.
“We want to remind folks that are under the age of 21 that they should not be out walking around with open containers or consuming in public.” Wallace said, “We want folks to find a toilet instead of using someone’s yard or a sidewalk or alley downtown,”
Although this zone is going to be in place starting on Halloween, some restrictions set by Cal Poly start on Thursday according to an email sent out by Dean of Students Joy Pedersen.
Pedersen sent out the email on Wednesday about the “No Guest policy” in University Housing. From Thursday at 8 p.m. to Monday, no guests are allowed to stay overnight in University Housing.
The email discussed the dangers of fentanyl, how to report harmful behavior and urged students to avoid cultural appropriation in their Halloween costumes.
Pedersen also listed the different services such as Mustang Shuttle and services offered by the Cal Poly Police Department such as Rave Guardian and the safety walk with Mustang Patrol.
