By Los Altos

Town Crier Staff Report

Los Altos City Hall announced last week that trick-or-treaters should avoid the Orange Avenue neighborhood Oct. 31.

City officials said the neighborhood is not prepared to handle the enormous crowd that has traditionally made Orange Avenue its Halloween destination. The city will not secure the neighborhood with street restrictions to handle the 800-plus children that the street has attracted in the past.

The Los Altos City Council earlier this year put an end to the annual Halloween festivities on Orange Avenue after neighbors complained about hordes of out-of-town trick or treaters invading their streets in recent years.

The council denied sponsors the special event permit needed to hold the annual “Los Altos Safe Street Halloween Project,” which had allowed neighbors to close off Orange Avenue, Edgewood Lane and a small portion of Washington Street on Halloween night to provide an area free of traffic for trick or treaters.

Neighbors said the street had become a “victim of its own success.”