Council Orders Probe of Street Scene Violence

The Los Angeles City Council ordered an investigation Wednesday into the violence that marred last weekend’s Steet Scene but made it clear that it has no plans to scrap the annual festival.

Council members, in their first opportunity to debate the fate of Street Scene, expressed alarm at the toll announced officially Wednesday by the Los Angeles Police Department: 1 death, 1 suspected rape, 4 stabbings and 56 arrests.

But even as council members decried the violence, only Councilman Ernani Bernardi called for abolishing the downtown festival that attracted 1 million people during its two-day run.

Earlier this week, Mayor Tom Bradley called for a halt to the 8-year-old festival. But Bradley’s idea received little support Wednesday from council members, who vowed that troublemakers--likened by some council members to terrorists and hijackers--would not destroy what has become a major cultural event.

“We’re not afraid of a few hoodlums,” said Councilman Gilbert Lindsay, whose district includes the Civic Center where the festival is held.

“I think (Street Scene) has redeeming qualities, and if it can be saved, it should be done . . . and I’m not ready to give up,” said Councilman Hal Bernson, chairman of the council’s Police, Fire and Public Safety Committee.

Councilman Dave Cunningham, a strong ally of the mayor, also said he is hopeful that the city would not lose “a valuable asset.” At Cunningham’s urging, the council voted unanimously to investigate the events that led to the violence and to explore ways to save the annual event.

Among suggestions raised Wednesday were banning the sale of alcoholic beverages, ending the festival at dusk, establishing a perimeter fence that would restrict entry to the festival, adding police officers, eliminating musical acts that attract rowdy fans and removing the sponsorship of alcoholic beverage companies.

Two beer companies and a wine cooler firm were among the corporate sponsors for Street Scene and contributed more than $122,000, said Sylvia Cunliffe, head of the General Services Department and the producer of Street Scene.

In calling for an end to that kind of sponsorship, council members urged the downtown business community to help finance and manage the festival.

For her part, Cunliffe told council members that she favored restricting beer drinking to certain areas, improving vigilance against visitors carrying beverages and weapons and moving nighttime performances to local theaters and off the streets.

“I think that we ought to go for more middle-of-the-road, classical and pop-type of entertainment and definitely not do any programming in the street after dark,” said Cunliffe, who added that the festival will warn musical groups that they will not be booked if they cannot control their fans.

Cunliffe declined to characterize what musical groups are troublesome, but police claim much of the violence occurred near music stages where rock bands were performing. A Saturday night melee also erupted among fans waiting for a band, which festival officials listed by mistake, to show up.

“We feel strongly that we should not stop the festival because that would indicate that we have abdicated control of the city to the thugs, and we feel the thugs are but a few,” Cunliffe said.

In his report to the council, Police Capt. Rick Batson, commanding officer of the Central Area, said police had confiscated enough beer and alcohol to fill several 55-gallon drums during the weekend.

“Alcohol was very evident. The concern we had with the alcohol consumption had to do with those who brought it in . . . in containers that later became missiles. The alcohol consumed that was purchased there, they had controls over,” he said.