Santa Barbara’s bangin’ parties, sandy beaches and glowing buildings attract students from all over the country to our little piece of paradise. Sadly, events like Floatopia, West Beach Music Festival and Halloween have faced an increase of city regulations with no solution in sight.

Every year when one of these events occur, they get bigger and bigger as word of how great they are circulates. Each year the city puts up a fight with new rules and regulations trying to hamper the functions.

My solution is to harness all this earning potential. The city could decide to sell tickets to events, sell paraphernalia, sell alcohol, or charge for parking and have shuttles to the locations. Make these out-of-hand gatherings into possible profit.

Take Halloween for example. Last year they closed up Isla Vista for days trying to hold off the amount of people attending. Police were posted at every corner and people hiked for miles from their cars to get there. All for a night that resulted in 438 citations, 220 arrests, $600,000 in fines and the city complaining about losing money on the clean up for weeks afterwards.

Since Isla Vista is already barricaded off for the holiday, why not sell tickets? A person can spend $200 to attend a rave in Los Angeles. Why not spend $50 for a fun filled night of Halloween fun? If you add up the estimated 50,000 people that flooded into Isla Vista last year, revenue from ticket sales alone would be over two million dollars.

Have parking lots on the other side of the freeway and have shuttles going back and forth to prevent people from driving drunk. Sell shirts to the students. Instead of “I survived Half Dome,” I want a shirt that says, “I survived Halloween in Isla Vista 2010.”

Floatopia is another example. When the city got fed up with this year’s failed attempt at organization, they decided to shut the entire thing down and restrict public beach access. Although that did not deter approximately 12,000 students from taking the party to the streets of Isla Vista, where it became Halloween with bathing suits. I see another profit brewing here.

Now we face the same problem again with the upcoming West Beach Music Festival. After last year’s amazing line-up, the city is attempting to put a stop to this awesome concert by putting restrictions on the program and not allowing them to hold it in a reasonable location.

I’m not trying to promote drinking, parties and debauchery, but if Floatopia was any indication, then nothing is going to stop the people from having their fun.

We need to uphold these epic times in Santa Barbara and keep the parties in paradise going. Find a solution or leave it alone.