We at BandsOfTheBay.com don’t want to see the Monterey Music Summit cancelled. (Read the news here.) As a new website, we are extremely excited to be given some stage time at the event, and more than 10 local bands have submitted applications to join us.

Our contact for the event, Daryl Wise, in charge of publicity, said this morning that the gang violence in the Salinas area has been a big problem, and as concert organizers they take their responsibility for fans’ safety very seriously.

A decision on the festival’s fate is expected Tuesday, and he thinks the show will go on.

We, of course, want fans to be safe, too, but we don’t think it’s fair to single out one performer as a scapegoat for the very complex problem of gang violence. Snoop Dogg has made strides in cleaning up his act in recent years. Come on, he’s going to be on the soap opera “Days of Our Lives,” (our personal fave) for Pete’s sake! Not exactly a show that would incite turf battles.

What do you think of the Monterey controversy over Snoop? Should hip-hop artists be banned from performing for fear of violence? Why or why not? Sound off here.