Dealing a stunning blow to promoters, volunteers and an array of bands, a Los Angeles city panel refused Wednesday to give a last-minute lifeline to the Sunset Junction Street Festival days before the event was supposed to happen.
The Board of Public Works, a five-member panel appointed by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, unanimously turned aside desperate pleas from festival promoters to provide the proper permits after the group failed to show up with a check for $141,000 to cover this year’s fees.
Instead, the nonprofit Sunset Junction Neighborhood Alliance had Chase Bank send a fax showing that the alliance had recently received a deposit of $100,000 in its account. That deposit was a last-minute loan from concert promoter Live Nation, said Phil Tate, a lawyer for the festival group.
Board president Andrea Alarcon called the group’s response a disappointment. “This is not an indication to me … that any funds will be available for issuance of a check to support the special events permit,” she said. “I do see a deposit of $100,000, but that doesn’t mean a whole lot.”
“Fail me once, shame on you. Fail me twice, shame on me,” Alarcon said. “This organization has failed this city time and time again.”
The fate of the festival has been a cliffhanger for much of the month, with city officials voicing dismay that, in the middle of a municipal budget crisis, event organizers still owe $260,000 from last year's festival to the city. Meanwhile, backers of the event described critics of the festival as “haters” and implored the board to change course.
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