some suggest that if the city had worked more closely with college organizers and created more event activities, events at the oceanfront would not have gotten out of control. the year following the 1989 riot, the city became greatly engaged and spent millions of dollars to prepare for greekfest. this preparation included blocking off the entire beach area with police checkpoints, allowing only those with city-issued passes access to the oceanfront, those passes granted exclusively to residents who lived or worked within the oceanfront perimeter and tourists with confirmed reservations at beachfront hotels. students and party-goers felt that the event had become overly militarized and within two years the festival was virtually abandoned. students and community leaders claimed the newly organized structure of the event destroyed the raucous and freewheeling nature of the gathering. the prevailing sentiment was the city of va. beach did not welcome the greekfest crowd and that such treatment was uncalled for and disrespectful. most attendees felt the racial overtones revealed by such treatment should no longer be tolerated and not only did african american students refuse to return on future labor day weekends, but for two decades the city has had trouble courting large numbers of african american tourists of any kind.