Beer Sales May Be OKd for Concert : Organizers Told of Switch by Authorities on Gaslamp Event

Two weeks after abandoning efforts to obtain a liquor permit for a daylong street concert in the Gaslamp Quarter, concert organizers expressed confidence Friday that they will be able to serve beer at the event under the auspices of the Gaslamp Quarter Council.

“It’s going to prove to be a win-win effort for everyone,” concert producer Rob Hagey said. “I think with the second team effort, we’ve been able to overcome.”

Earlier, Hagey said he had been “completely defeated” in his efforts to obtain a permit for his “Michelob Street Scene ‘85” concert because of opposition from the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Department, which grants liquor permits, and the San Diego Police Department.

The concert, the third in a series started last summer in the Gaslamp Quarter, will feature rock, rhythm-and-blues and reggae bands and will benefit the San Diego Jazz Festival, which Hagey also produces. It is scheduled for Aug. 24 on 5th Avenue between J and K streets.

City officials and some local merchants have endorsed the concert as a chance to lure thousands of people to the Gaslamp Quarter as part of a campaign to upgrade the neighborhood. But ABC District Administrator Peter Case discouraged Hagey from applying for the liquor permit after he received a police report on the second Street Scene concert, held last summer.

At that concert, police made three arrests--for serving a minor, serving an intoxicated person and drinking outside an area fenced off for alcohol. Police said they refrained from making more arrests to avoid causing a riot.

Police changed their recommendation against a new permit after the Gaslamp Quarter Council agreed to replace the San Diego Jazz Festival as the permit applicant. Hagey’s first Street Scene concert, which was co-sponsored by the council, brought no complaints from police.

“I have been given every confidence, every promise, that our application will be received with a welcome hand,” said council Executive Director Art Skolnik, after talks with Case, the police vice squad and the city manager’s office. Case could not be reached for comment Friday.

“The atmosphere has changed,” Skolnik said. “Now this is seen as an integral part of the renaissance of downtown.”

Hagey and Skolnik gave partial credit for the change to J. Michael McDade, former chief of staff for Mayor Roger Hedgecock, who represented the Downtown Marketing Consortium in the talks. McDade said the talks could lead to an easier road for future downtown events.

“This is not an isolated incident,” he said. “Frequently, promoters are baffled by what hoops they have to jump through to get permits. . . . I made the case as strongly as I could that it’s inconsistent to (discourage) these events at the same time that you’re spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to promote the area.”

Lt. Jim Sing of the vice squad said it was the change in applicants rather than a change in attitude that led police to endorse the concert’s current bid for a permit. He said the Gaslamp Quarter Council “has a history of handling (similar events) within the guidelines.”

Skolnik said the council would provide volunteers to serve the beer and check I.D.’s and hire a private security firm to police the area.