San Francisco Police Department officials this morning (Thursday, May 28) delayed for a second time granting a street closure permit for the annual Pink Saturday party in the Castro during Pride weekend, throwing plans for this year's event in doubt.

The move infuriated the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, who are threatening to end their sponsorship of the outdoor celebration. It attracts anywhere from 75,000 to 100,000 revelers to the city's gayborhood and raises hundreds of thousands of dollars for local LGBT groups.

"At this point we have been jacked around week after week. They are making it impossible to move ahead," said Sister Barbi Mitzvah, a spokesnun for the charitable organization. "The Sisters are at their wits' end with the city. We need our permit approved."

With only 30 days left to organize more than 350 volunteers, hire more than 250 private security guards, and line up corporate sponsors, time is running out to properly plan the party, said Mitzvah.

"We can't wait another two weeks, otherwise we will pull out and SFPD can do what it wants to do," he said. "People are going to go to Pink Saturday whether we are there or not."

If their permit is not in hand by next week, the drag nun group will likely walk away from overseeing the party, set to take place June 27.

"I keep hearing a few more weeks. I have no faith in the SPFD whatsoever," said Mitzvah, in terms of getting final approval from the department. "We are required to have our permits 30 days in advance and we are not going to make it."

The police have dragged out the permit approval process for weeks, blocking for a second time signoff of the permits from the city's Interdepartmental Staff Committee on Traffic and Transportation due to concerns about adding beer booths at the street event this year. They also claim the department does not have the funds to cover the estimated $200,000 it will cost to police the party.

Sergeant Mark Solomon, with the department's field operations bureau, requested ISCOTT defer voting on the Sisters' permit for at least a week so that police officials could review the Sisters' security plans and determine how to pay for staffing the party. He said due to the beer booths, the police would need to increase the amount of officers assigned to patrol Pink Saturday.

"There is no money in our coffers," Solomon said during the morning hearing Thursday, May 28. "We need to figure out where to come up with that."

For much of the party's two-decades-long history, city officials have tolerated drinking in the streets of the Castro that night. In return, bar owners and liquor stores are asked to serve alcohol in paper cups and not to sell any cans or bottles.

As the event has grown in size, and attracted a younger crowd, underage and excess drinking has become more of a concern. To address that this year, and to raise more money to help defray their production costs, the Sisters have proposed setting up several beer booths and bars throughout the footprint of the street closure. They also want to bring in food vendors and more entertainment so there is more to do than drink.

"We want this to be more than just a gay man's drinking event," said Mitzvah.

They intend to aggressively card participants at the entrance gates, and only people over the age of 21 given wristbands by security will be served alcohol. Bars would still be allowed to serve drinks to go, but only if in biodegradable cups, so in effect, the event would be one large beer booth.

"There has always been drinking in the streets. The difference is we feel we can legitimize this and control the drinking in the streets," said Mitzvah. "We can also make money off of this and help with SFPD's costs."

Steve Adams, president of the Castro merchant group, said business owners and neighborhood groups all support the Sisters' proposed changes to the event and called on ISCOTT to grant the permits. Otherwise, should the Sisters pull out, Adams fears the city would try to shut down Pink Saturday as it did two years ago with the Castro's Halloween street party due to violence and problems with crowd control.

"We do not want this to turn into another Halloween. Having the Sisters doing this will prevent another Halloween-type situation," said Adams at the hearing.

The ISCOTT members agreed to allow the police more time to resolve their issues with the party, and once they do, plan to meet in emergency session to grant the necessary permits to close the streets.

But that may still be too late. The Sisters plan to discuss over the next several days what their involvement will be this year.

"No matter what happens the Sisters will be in the Castro celebrating Pink Saturday. It just may not be in the shape or design people are used to," said Mitzvah.