Cross-Boundary Dispute : Burbank to Oppose Concerts at Equidome

Burbank officials, fearing that traffic jams and loud music will disturb neighborhood residents, said Thursday they would try to bring down the curtain on a scheduled series of summer concerts by popular entertainers at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center in Griffith Park.

Several officials, including City Councilmen Michael Hastings and Bob Bowne, said they were distressed that the City of Burbank was not consulted about the concert series. The concerts are scheduled to start June 29 and run for six consecutive Saturday nights in the center, which is owned by the City of Los Angeles.

They said that, even though the equestrian center lies on the Los Angeles side of the Burbank-Los Angeles border, concertgoers will have to drive through Burbank residential neighborhoods to reach the center, situated at Riverside Drive and Main Street.

The officials added that the concerts, which are to be held inside the 4,300-seat Equidome, had not been approved by the Los Angeles Department of Parks and Recreation, which oversees the equestrian center. They also asserted that the concerts fall outside the province of the facility, which was designed for horse-related events.

Los Angeles Owns Center

The concerts were organized by promoter Eddie Haddad and are being sponsored by the Equestrian Center. The City of Los Angeles leases the center to Equestrian Centers of America Inc., a private company.

According to center officials, the concerts will be part of a series of evening-long programs featuring a barbecue, a professional polo match and an after-game party lasting until 2 a.m. Among the artists scheduled to perform on individual nights are rock group Three Dog Night, rhythm and blues singer James Brown and country singer Ronnie Milsap. A Sunday afternoon concert featuring the Beach Boys is also tentatively scheduled for August.

Acting Burbank City Atty. Doug Holland said Thursday he was preparing a recommendation to present to the City Council next week asking council members to formally disapprove of the concerts. He said he was also trying to arrange for a Burbank representative to appear before the Los Angeles Parks and Recreation Commission on June 14 to ask the commissioners to stop the concerts.

Traffic, Noise Problems

“We want to indicate to the commissioners that Burbank would be requesting them not to approve the concerts,” Holland said. “There will be an astounding increase of vehicular traffic. The noise from the concerts would just have a detrimental impact on somebody trying to enjoy their property on the weekend.”

Ironically, Burbank officials have been trying for several years to attract the same caliber of talent to the city-owned Starlight Amphitheatre, but have been unable to because of the controversy surrounding the open-air theater in the hills above Burbank. Difficulties with the Starlight have ranged from the city’s banning of rock acts to contractual problems with operators.

City officials and the most recent promoter of the Starlight, Tom Griffin, mutually terminated their contract last week because of Griffin’s continuing financial problems, including a bankruptcy proceeding filed under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.

Rich Inga, director of the Burbank Parks and Recreation Department, has said that the Starlight would remain dark most of the summer and would not host any commercial acts.

Contract Not Specific

Jim Heyne, supervisor of administrative services for the metropolitan region of the Los Angeles Parks and Recreation Department, said the contract between the city and the Burbank-based Equestrian Centers of America Inc., which operates the equestrian center, does not specify whether the facility can host concerts.

“But our staff does realize that it is an equestrian center, and that’s their main purpose of business,” Heyne said. “We realize that music can be part of an equestrian program, but we have to determine whether a concert is directly related to equestrian activities.”

Susan Rosenbluth, general manager of the Greek Theatre, also in Griffith Park, said she was sending a letter to the commissioners voicing her concern about the concerts competing with the Greek Theatre.

“I’m merely expressing my concern, but the equestrian center has that name for a reason,” Rosenbluth said. “It was my understanding it would be used only for horse-related activities.”

Heyne said the concerns of residents near the center would also be taken into consideration by the department staff. “We have always tried to maintain good relations with the neighbors of the center, and we have tried to work with them,” he said.

‘Dead Set’ Opposed

David Bender, a member of a condominium owners association near the center, said area residents are “dead set” against having concerts at the center. “It’s going to be ridiculous, having all that noise and traffic up there,” he said.

J. Albert Garcia, president of Equestrian Centers of America, defended the proposed concerts, saying the center had frequently hosted horse-oriented shows with musical entertainment. He said the crowd for the combined concert and polo game could not exceed 4,300 people, the capacity for a polo game.

“We’ve filled the Equidome on many occasions without a problem,” Garcia said. “We don’t see any additional problems with the concerts. We’re not going to have any more people than we do normally. We just want to expand our audience. We’ve also had musical entertainment like rodeos, and who’s to say that music isn’t a part of the entertainment we put up here?”

The concerts would have such themes as “Polo Goes Soul” and “Polo Goes Country.” Tickets for the concert, polo match and party would be priced at $15 to $20, and would be offered to polo season ticket holders before being made available to the general public, Garcia said.

Meanwhile, the equestrian center is grappling with its own problems. Garcia said the center is still trying to reorganize after filing for protection from its creditors under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. The center also has been involved in a multimillion-dollar legal battle with its principal lender, Gibraltar Savings of Beverly Hills, and has fallen thousands of dollars behind in tax payments to the state and in rental payments to the City of Los Angeles.