'Deltopia' Riot at UC Santa Barbara's Isla Vista Community

The Isla Vista community has the reputation as the biggest, rowdiest party town in the country. The year my wife and I moved down to UCSB, 1992, Halloween fell on a Saturday, and the County Sheriff and UCSB authorities blocked off the streets to prevent an imminent riot. But they can't stop everything, especially when these parties are launched without permits from the county. Often times people are killed when they get too drunk and fall over the cliffs onto the rocky beach below.

At LAT, "Amid party debris, calm returns to student enclave after riot":

ISLA VISTA, Calif. — The scene Monday on Del Playa Drive was a curious, uniquely Isla Vista mix: part laid-back beach vibe, part riot aftermath.

Beach towels fluttered over cliffside balconies as UC Santa Barbara students enjoyed spring weather. Dumpsters overflowed with beer boxes and red cups.

"I was in the riot," one young woman said nonchalantly to her friend as they rode beach cruisers.

"I got hit by a tear gas grenade," a male student told his friends as they carried an inflatable pool over their heads.

They were talking about Deltopia, a social media-fueled street party that spun out of control Saturday night, leaving a sheriff's deputy seriously injured and more than 100 people arrested.

The eruption of violence was nothing new for unincorporated Isla Vista, a densely packed, student-dominated community where the average age is 23 and officials have struggled for decades to curb sporadic bouts of Bacchanalia.

"We've been dealing with this issue one way or another for the last 45 years," Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown said. "There's been problems and challenges in Isla Vista that don't exist elsewhere in the country."

Last year, authorities received 440 calls during Deltopia, and a visiting student from Cal State Poly San Luis Obispo was found dead in the surf after falling off the cliff.

The estimated 22,000 residents of Isla Vista, 60% of whom are UC Santa Barbara students, often blame incidents on outsiders. But the campus' student president sent an email to students Monday saying that they need to take responsibility.

"Yes, it is true that much of the crime that happens is connected to out-of-towners, but who invites these people into our town?" Jonathan Abboud wrote. "We do. It is perfectly OK to celebrate holidays such as Deltopia, but we must consider that inviting our seven best friends from high school does tend to contribute to the problem."

Like the area's raucous Halloween celebrations, Deltopias are not organized events as much as calls to come and party, now trumpeted on social media.

"We have asked over and over if [backers] want to come forward and take responsibility" for getting permits, County Supervisor Doreen Farr said Monday. "And nobody has been willing to do that...

Also, "Spring break party riot near UC Santa Barbara spurs calls for change."

ADDED: Also at Blackmailers Don't Shoot, "Shocker: Gathering of Drunk, Half-Naked College Students Ends in Disaster."