Council Member Espinal shares a few words with a few of Bushwick’s local bar owners at the Community Board #4 meeting. All were pleased to hear his announcement.

The nightmare before Christmas has ended before it ever began. Last night at a Community Board #4 meeting, District Council Member Rafael Espinal delivered news that brought warmth to every corner of Bushwick: SantaCon, the annual dread booze bomb that proves that some kids never grow up, will not be coming to this neighborhood in 2014. On Monday, Bushwick Daily broke the news that SantaCon, an annual daytime bar crawl of thousands “bad Santas” frequently accompanied by vandalism, public urination and vomiting, was to be held in Bushwick.

SantaCon organizers promised that they will look for another location after the wake of negativity from the community (including local bar owners) and a press release from Espinal, which had a pretty biting tone itself with regards to the event (“I think I speak for many of my constituents and bar patrons when I say that we’re not ready for a ‘Santification’ of Bushwick.”) Yes, there is word that is even dirtier than gentrification in New York City.