Local News in Brief : Council OKs Talks for New Festival

Plans for staging a new festival next year on Wilshire Boulevard in place of the popular but violence-plagued Street Scene moved ahead Wednesday.

The Los Angeles City Council voted 11 to 0 to negotiate a contract with the firm of Perelman, Pioneer & Co. to stage the “L.A. Wilshire Festival” on Sept. 16 and 17 on a seven-block stretch of Wilshire between Normandie and Western avenues.

Rich Perelman, the chief organizer, said the council action will enable him to start lining up corporate sponsors for the $2-million event.

The downtown Street Scene, sponsored by the city between 1978 and 1986, attracted hundreds of thousands of people annually and featured food booths, arts and crafts, live entertainment and carnival rides.

Violence during the 1986 festival and a financial scandal involving Sylvia Cunliffe, former head of the city’s General Services Department, prompted officials to cancel the 1987 event. Perelman said that, unlike the Street Scene, which was not fenced, he plans to fence off the area, charge $2 for admission and stop people from bringing in alcohol.