Sunset Junction soliciting donations to cover city fees as organizers try to save this weekend’s festival
Kevin Bronson on
5
UPDATED, 5:30 p.m.: Sunset Junction organizers have raised the $141,000 in city fees to resubmit their case to the L.A. Board of Public Works on Wednesday morning.
The morning post:
Organizers of the beleaguered Sunset Junction Street Fair are scrambling to collect donations in an effort to reach the $141,000 they need to induce the L.A. Board of Public Works to reconsider approving a permit to stage this weekend’s festival. The permit was denied on Monday, with the commissioners leaving open the option of revisiting the matter at its next meeting Wednesday morning.
The money would be to cover police, fire and transportation costs for this year’s two-day festival – funds which, by ordinance, are due the city in advance. Even if organizers come up with the money, there’s no guarantee it will curry favor with the Board of Public Works, which seemed justifiably peeved over recent history with the two-day festival, which, approaching its 32nd year, covers nine blocks in and around Sunset Boulevard in Silver Lake and has become a cornerstone event of the L.A. music scene.
Still at issue, for instance, is a $267,000 tab the city says it is owed from the 2010 Sunset Junction – a total organizers says “blind-sided” them and is unfairly calculated. But that’s only the largest of several black marks against Sunset Junction. The Board of Public Works appears armed with myriad reasons to scotch the festival:
- Sunset Junction had the brass to organize, book talent for and widely advertise a festival that had not been permitted and was not in financial good stead with the city.
- Each of the past two years, Sunset Junction missed the deadline to submit its permit application.
- The Silver Lake Neighborhood Council unanimously opposes the festival, which began as a free celebration of neighborhood diversity and has blossomed into a massive commercial enterprise with a $20/$25 admission fee.
- Despite his charitable organization’s best intentions and good deeds, founder Michael McKinley has become a lightning rod for controversy.
On the other hand:
- Sunset Junction is a major event with a national reputation that helped put Silver Lake on the map. Silver Lake may not need it anymore, but there is no denying that.
- Despite what naysayers argue, it is not a “hipsterfest” – anybody who goes every year and negotiates the fair’s diverse crowds of music nerds, Latino families, gay couples and L.A. newbies can see that.
- Canceling the festival at the 11th hour – even if there’s nobody to blame but Sunset Junction organizers themselves – would be devastating to the businesses, vendors and bands who’ve invested in this weekend’s event, as well as the sponsoring charity, the Neighborhood Alliance.
All that said, it will be about fiscal responsibility when the matter falls into the lap of the Board of Public Works again on Wednesday morning. The cash-strapped city shouldn’t – and, by law, can’t – grant Sunset Junction a mulligan for 2011. But if Sunset Junction comes up with its fees and the board is willing to set aside the dispute over 2010’s monies (after all, if this year’s festival is scotched, the city will likely never see any of that), L.A. could be rocking in the middle of Sunset Boulevard on Saturday and Sunday.
As one of the aforementioned music nerds, I hope it happens, if only for one more year. And if it has a longer future that, it will need to happen under new leadership.
Photo by Laurie Scavo
well written article. glad to see both sides of the issue. the lack of planning/follow through from the event organizer is horrendous. one can only hope that they find new leadership for this festival.
Well put, Kevin. I hear a lot of negative things about this McKinley guy but know absolutely nothing about his past dealings. I really hope the festival ends up happening.
Agreed Kevin. We music aficionados no matter what the lineup is end up there and end up enjoying ourselves but the ship has needed a new Captain for a pretty long time.
I heard the organizers came up with the cash. I hope it came from Michael McKinley’s pocket. He’s made at least 10 times that off of the festival over the past few years, especially since the fence went up along with ticket prices!
I think the board president Andrea Alarcon said it best: “I find it offensive that you have hired lobbyists and lawyers yet have not paid one dollar for services that the our city already provided to you last year”¦you know the financial situation the city is in yet you refuse to pay for the services we’ve provided, not this years services but last year’s.” (she’s got my vote for future elections).
Any complaints from the organizers should be ignored completely. Last year they made a special deal with the city to pay fees within 10 days of the event in order to avoid the normal process of paying everything up front. So they were already getting preferential treatment. The fact they’ve been allowed to go this long without paying, and that there’s even a *chance* that the show might go on as scheduled, shows how preferential their treatment has been, and they have the audacity to complain that they’re getting treated unfairly? Cry me a river.
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