Downtown Los Angeles Art Walk Get A $8,800 Bill From The City

This story comes courtesy of The City Maven.

By Alice M. Walton

For the first time in seven years, Art Walk organizers in downtown Los Angeles will be on the hook for $8,800 to cover the city services — including police, transportation and sanitation — related to the outdoor event.

The bill comes as the Los Angeles City Council today approved a set of safety recommendations intended to better manage the estimated 15,000 to 30,000 people who attend the event between Main and Spring streets from about Second to Ninth.

Following a July collision that killed an infant during that month’s Art Walk, the city council put together a task force focused on safety measures. As part of implementing those measures, the city directed Art Walk to apply for a special event permit that requires organizers to reimburse the city’s costs. That tab is $8,800, much less than it would if Art Walk did not qualify as a nonprofit.

Art Walk’s executive director, Joe Moller, said that so far he has financial commitments from the food truck vendors at two lots, The Alexandria, the Medallion and Art Walk. It was not yet clear how much money those contributions totaled.

Councilman Jose Huizar represents part of downtown and agreed that the city needs to be paid for its services, but said he also wants to see the event live on.

“At the end of the day, we all want the Art Walk to continue to exist and flourish. We don’t want it to be a victim of its own success,” Huizar said.

The October Art Walk is scheduled for Thursday.

Comments

[turnleft4progress]

01:20 PM on 10/12/2011

Nothing should be paid. The artwalk will go on. What is city going to do incarcerate people for going to bars and art galleries on a thursday evening. If things go as planned downtown streets will be this crowded everyday. What do they suppose be done then. Charge people for using sidewalks?

[turnleft4progress]

01:17 PM on 10/12/2011

I don't see any reason why any thing should be paid. This is the same person or commision that shut down the Sunset Junction Street Fair. "ANDREA ALARCON" Los Angeles Commision of Public Works. This woman must be stop she is destroying the growing culture of our city. Why should any fees be paid by anyone at the artwalk? They already paid taxes for Police. Police should not be getting paid overtime. These are city streets and businesses that they get paid to Police.

[kingl8619]

11:36 AM on 10/12/2011

Come on L.A., you have Hollywood, how are you broke?

[Scott Zwartz]

11:08 AM on 10/12/2011

Now the city proposes to impose criminal penalties on property owners but the City's new ACE program has relieved owners of the burden of "criminal procedures" so the city will cite you, prosecute you, judge you, and then take your property without the involvement of the courts. The City Atty says then new constitutional-less procedures are necessary as it costs the city too much to follow Due Process.

Although the City says it needs this new cash, Billionaire Eli Broad's rent next door to the Grand Avenue Disney Center is only One Dollar per year and the City gave him $52 M to buy a parking garage for his museum. The City gave $3.33 to the LLP/LLC developer in Hollywood at the Spaghetti Factory site, who then went BK and kept all the loot. The City gave CIM Group $17.3 for its destruction of the businesses along North Western Avenue and its eviction of all the low income tenants from the St. Francis Hotel.

Los Angeles especially Hollywood is deteriorating as the city council diverts over $1.5 BILLION dollars way from city services and into the pockets of developers. This massive transfer of wealth leaves the city broke so they extort more cash from the hands of the citizens -- and they wonder why their is an exodus of decent people from LA.

[Scott Zwartz]

11:01 AM on 10/12/2011

LA is a Pay to Play City, and Art Walk should not be treated differently than other Angelenos. IF you want the city to do something, you pay off the right people. Art Walk's bag man probably got lost on his way to City Hall or did they think they could Play without Paying. The City closed the Sunset Junction festival for the same folly of thinking that they didn't have to pay the piper.

The city's main business is to transfer taxpayer dollars to the pockets of the cronies of the councilmembers, This leave the City broke and thus the city is running around charging for everything. It sends inspectors to decide if your 20 year old fence is a foot too high? If so, zap a fine. They will tell people that their property with 4 units has no record of 4 units -- even though the records show that property taxes on those units have been paid for 40 years. Zap another $6K fine. Parking charges have zoomed, making it cheaper for me to drive to Bev Hills to park than to park in Hollywood. two LAPD Officers sued the city and won because the City was forcing them to write traffic citations to satisfy a Quota -- Yes, the LAPD did serve and protect the citizens by suing to City to stop the Ticket Quota program!

[LuLou Murder]

10:32 PM on 10/11/2011

I can't wait to see what they're going to bill OccupyLA.

[Scott Zwartz]

11:12 AM on 10/12/2011

Garcetti is going to PAY Occupy LA since they are so dense that they think he is a hero rather than the center of bank corruption in LA. He comes outside address the Occupiers, they cheer him, he passes a resolution saying the Occupiers are wonderful and it is all kissy-kissy. It's like civil rights protesters cheering for Lester Maddox.

The general idea of Occupy Wall Street and LA and other cities is great, but sad to say, so far the Occupy LA people are as dumb as the Tea Baggers.