I really don’t see where they were “out of control”….what I do see is one hell of a lot of people in a very small space…frankly, the kids surrounding the car look pretty respectful….BUT….that could have gotten out of hand very quickly and if someone did something stupid…..many would have been trampled!!

X2

Got to agree with Andy on this one. This was a lot of people in a tight space celebrating loudly. Dangerous in that it could have easily moved to stampede or trampling levels. Definitely unsafe and (positively) emotionally charged.

“…by almost any definition, out of control.” Might have to invest in a new dictionary, Steve. Hardly out of control. Definitely outside the bounds of being safe.

Steve – unfortunately last night’s event was not a surprise to me. I went to most of the 2011 playoff games in Thunder Alley. At first it was a fun experience, but as the team advanced the crowds became larger. At the last game the crowd was completely out of control. The Thunder Alley crowd was shoulder to shoulder, absolutely no space to walk. If there had been an emergency of any type there would have been a disasterous trampling. Between that and the fights going on all around, I felt it was a massive failure in managing public safety. I was genuinly scared. I love the idea of an outdoor watch party, but the authorities HAVE to manage it better!

Tight spaces and a panic situation (like firecrackers going off) could create a dangerous trample situation.

well, of course it could. but there are crowds in “real” big cities all the time, and they don’t result in mayhem. i’ve been in a crowd that could have easily gone out of control, thanks to the actions of a few jerks who didn’t care if they ruined it for everyone else. i quickly learned how easily people can be crushed. luckily, they weren’t. this crowd looked well behaved by comparison.

I agree with Andy. A little extra police presence, including perhaps some traffic direction to make sure the streets aren’t clogged (or better yet, officially block/close off Reno to auto traffic in the immediate vicinity of the arena and the railroad bridge), and this is just a happy community celebrating its team’s win.

Andy,

Are you serious? You don’t see anything wrong with this?

How about the crowd is in the middle of the street? How about the crowd is blocking traffic? The crowd is not moving but just standing there. Crowd is too closely packed.

How can anyone look at this and not see what’s wrong?

Open up the Old Cox Arena – put the overflow there.

Theyre not out of control. But more police presence is needed. I really dont think the city was prepared for the amount of people that have shown up outside the arena. It just needs better planning. I really dont beleive the shootings had anything to do with the watch party. It was just an unfortunate coincidence. I think they should gate up both ends of thunder alley, and charge a couple dollars for watch party and limit the amount of people who can enter who dont have tickets. I know this slows entrance into the arena down, but might be worth it.

There is an element of society that does not know how to behave in public… they have absolutely no respect for fundamental social behavior (or maybe they’re just ignorant of it). This thugish element, strutting down the street with pants dragging, uses loud profanity in front of children, begging normal people to challenge them so they can explode in rage. They act as though they own the street.

Recently I, and others have noticed much more of this element in and around the Arena on game night… No amount of police presence can control this cancerous social problem.

I completely agree that there are far too many people in this small space, and this is the kind of gathering that can turn deadly very quickly. I commend Mayor Cornett for the decision to make changes, especially in light of the coming open-carry law. What a terrible mess people have made of what could have been a perfectly wonderful entertainment venue.

Is the “riot” in a second installment of the video?

Justin, I didn’t write the headline for the video – it was posted by someone who was there in this crowd.

Let me add to my earlier post that I am not an alarmist or easily disturbed. What I experienced in Thunder Alley last year was very disturbing, especially because there appeared to be next to no crowd control and safety measures. It was a very, very dangerous situation. At the time I gave organizers the benefit of the doubt since it was a new problem. But a public safety plan should have been put in place by now.

Out of control? Hardly. Crowded? Yes. Could it have led to trampling of the crowd if somethign happened? Yes. But what you see in this video is a group of people having fun under the railbridge because it echo’s really well under there. What you see here is NOT what happened Monday night at Thunder Alley. I was there. I’m an adult. I was with a few other adults and not a single one of us felt safe the entire time. The lack of security, the illegal sales going on (not drugs, just folks selling their own cold pop’s and beers), the constant fights, the mismanaged seating arrangement (no one enforced isles for emergencies), etc. All of it was a complete mess. One person in our group even stated that if the Lakers won that night you could bet knives or guns would have been drawn. Lo and behold the Lakers lost and it still happened.

My suggsetion: Keep it free but allow only those aged 21 and up to attend. You wouldn’t believe how many kids and babies were out that night. Parents had no respect for their own kids safety. Designate large seating areas where emergency isles can be created. Those isles would allow people to walk around which was NOT the case Monday night. Don’t allow bikes or shopping carts (yes there were plenty of those in the crowd).

OKC needs to step up and accept some blame. It was reported the home game before that was a record crowd. OKC knew another large crowd was coming. There were people there hours beforehand to secure a good seat. These are all good signs that Thunder Alley is popular and people are going to come so step up the security and enforce some rules.

Do the Thunder Alley people have to get a permit like the
Occupy OKC people and war protesters and other, you know,
like lunkhead kind of people?

Not trying to derail the discussion, but I don’t see open carry as having any difference in what we already have with concealed carry as far as it being more/less dangerous. To do either, you have to have a permit which requires safety/training course etc. To me open carry is a complete non-issue.

The police said they had doubled the normal amount of officers. Not sure if I buy into the “new problem” either as Thunder Alley has been going on for quite a while now, we were in the playoffs last year too. Just a normal increase one can reasonably expect the more popular the team gets & the further (or is it farther) they go. These things can and should be anticipated. I think it is an over reaction for the City or Thunder to eliminate it completely as has been suggested.

No Cars should be allowed to drive west on Reno beyond Oklahoma, possibly Mickey Mantle, after the game – there is simply too much foot traffic. You open up two additional lanes for people to walk and this probably doesn’t happen.

Sorry about not including this in the previous post(s), as far as I know, it is indeed permitted to do it.

For the namby pambys afraid of crowds you have obviously not been to New Orleans during Mardi Gras or NYC Times Square on New Years Rockin Eve. Grow up and get a life. This shooting DID NOT occur in Thunder Alley but several blocks away in Bricktown. Duh. Do they need to better manage the event maybe but to make it go away is stupid. Our not so illustrious Mayor made a public pontification before he even spoke with other city so called leaders and Thunder staff. Talk about knee jerk reaction. Not the first time this has occurred. You are correct Larry bringing up the open carry law was unecessary and an uneducated slam by that poster.

irst of all, I passed this “riot” on my way from the game last Wednesday and I can assure you the video (shaky camera) makes it look much worse than it actually was. The problem way that these guys in the car were camped out in the middle of the tunnel, which created the bottleneck of people. From my perspective, most people congregated just to see what was going on and not to further the commotion. In my opinion, there needs to be temporary pedestrian-only avenues right after the game that are clear of cars. With that amount of people spilling out of the arena area that fast there is virtually to way to stop a hoard of people from adhering to basic traffic safety. All it takes is a handful to congregate in a tight area, and it will make a mess for everyone else.

Secondly, I think the issue with Thunder Alley is that people obviously just want to be a part of the crowd to watch the game. Which is why I think there should be additional viewing parties nearby on projection screens. Possibly, along with Thunder Alley, the game could be projected at the Myriad Gardens and one in Bricktown. Obviously, there may be a host of technical issues. However, I think when given viewing options outside within the region of the arena (which is clearly desired), most will choose to disperse from the large crowds in favor of a comfortable environment to watch the game along with their fellow crowd of fans.

monday nite i wasn’t there, as i was watching from the comfort of a living room. friday nite, i watched it for the first time at louie’s. what a fabulous experience! i like the idea of doing the same thing in the cox arena (for a very cheap price), along with full concessions. the thunder could have two sellouts, there would be reasonable crowd control, and people could really enjoy the game. of course, this only works if nothing else is scheduled and the powers that be are agreeable. there has to be a reason to go down there, as high ticket prices could be a turnoff.

i remember when the zoo amphitheatre let people take in their own ice chests. that revenue stream didn’t remain untapped for long.

Haven’t read any of the other comments yet (to avoid being influenced by them) but I certainly did not see a crowd out of control on that video. What I saw was a bunch of Thunder fans celebrating a big victory. What’s the big deal?

RE: Permits

They are required, one was in place (but had extenuating circumstances) but the process is set to change:
http://newsok.com/thunder-alley-watch-party-off-permit-process-to-change/article/3678115

Re: Re

Yeah I read it. It was really good. Loved it.

I think it’s time to move on though.