Days before one of the city's oldest and most popular music festivals was scheduled to begin, Los Angeles officials cancelled the Sunset Junction Street Fair in a dispute over $260,000 in unpaid fees. Yesterday, the Los Angeles Board of Public Works rejected a special event permit today for this weekend's planned festival, likely meaning the end of the Silver Lake festival's 30-year run. Live Nation stepped in to pay off the festival's debt, according to the LA Weekly, but festival organizers told the board Wednesday morning that they didn't have a check for the $141,000 for this year's fees in hand, which led the board to deny their permit. The city says that the organization actually owes around $400,000 for both this year and last year's festivals, but that they would have accepted the smaller amount for now. Reaction to the decision ranged from outrage to relief. Many Silver Lake residents have long favored cancelling the event because of the noise and traffic it brings to their community but festival organizers warned of lawsuits by bands and sponsors who’d been booked for the event. Is this the end of an era of street festivals in Silver Lake and will you miss this event? Or do you favor the cancellation and hope the festival is replaced with a smaller more home grown one?
Guest:
Andrea Domanick, reporter for the LA Weekly