Halloween in Isla Vista: The party is over. Seriously, this time. It was 15 days ago. But that only brings next year’s festivities 15 days closer.

Planning can never start too early. The Office of Student Life – the ones who sent the anti-fun e-mail – held a meeting on Monday with police and other campus organizations to congratulate themselves on a safe Halloween and to discuss next year’s.

One thing all present agreed on: Out-of-towners were the main source of trouble.

That anti-fun e-mail, or advertisement, sent out by the friendly folks at OSL to 115 colleges across California and Nevada probably contributed a great deal to this year’s enormous crowds. The lunatic who cooked that up might think about reconsidering his career options.

Another consideration was bringing more floodlights in next year. We like it. The lights were great. Jill Singletary, the UC Police Dept. Community Service Officer coordinator, said, “The lights seemed to slow people down. People would congregate with their friends at the sources.”

But that sounds a lot like the argument against allowing music in I.V. past 6 p.m. on Halloween. If people congregating is a good thing, music would only help.

There was one other great idea in that meeting: No parking on Del Playa Drive. Driving on it should also be restricted. This would clear up the streets, making it much easier for partygoers, cops and emergency vehicles to get around. Cars parked on DP that night get just as trashed as the students, anyway.

And there is ample and safe parking on campus when students and faculty aren’t all here. Give on-campus parking permits to all residents of DP. Take care of them.

Denial just won’t make the crowd go away. Deal with it.

Organize traffic festival-style: Have cops in the middle of the street with people going opposite directions on either side of them. Have a fire truck stationed on DP so it can get a head start through the mob.

This is a good chance for the university to change from the bitchy mother figure. If they want it to be a mother, it should at least be a good one.