Conversations With Jack Katz and Estela Lopez : The Fiesta Is ‘Too Precious to Lose’
Question: What were the main things that went wrong at the fiesta?
Lopez: Not in any order: On that day, Broadway attracted lots of young people affiliated with gangs. This has not happened before. Also this year, for the first time there was one stage (at 4th and Spring streets) where the entertainment was unfortunately the type of music attractive to those sectors of our community that are violence prone. Also the alcohol was available just outside the perimeter of the festival.
Q: Given the problems at fiesta and at other street festivals, do you think these sorts of events are no longer viable in Los Angeles?
Lopez: Absolutely not. They are not a thing of the past. What has to become a thing of the past is the idea that we can’t afford to do them because they are too great a risk.
The defining question for the city of Los Angeles is not whether there will be another Fiesta Broadway, but where are we going to draw the line and say to people who want to be disruptive, “No, you will not get away with that here.” If we say we’ll move it to a safer location, we’re saying, “We are willing, gang members of Los Angeles, to give up Broadway to you, to give up Hollywood, to give up Venice Beach.” I hope we’re not prepared to do that. Because it cannot be that we have come to the point where the only folks who can count on enjoying a safe family outing are those who can afford tickets to the Hollywood Bowl.
Q: What can be done to avoid trouble in the future?
Lopez: We need to find more ways to make it family-oriented. In the past, our formula worked. It was only one day, only during daylight hours. Our entertainment offered something for everyone. And there was no heavy metal or rap that can appeal to elements that might cause trouble. But we need to step back and take a look at changes that have occurred within society and make changes in what we do.
We are asking ourselves, do we charge admission, even nominally? And the question about gang members is hard. You can’t exclude them based on what they wear.
I think that if it’s done well, a festival like this can give Los Angeles its spirit back. That’s something too precious for this city to lose.
Q: What creates problems or the potential for problems at large street festivals?
Katz: In the last 10 years in L.A. and elsewhere, public spaces that attract young people have become increasingly vulnerable to violent outbreaks. If you have young people congregating--even non-gang people in relatively affluent areas--you’re likely to attract gang-identified kids and trouble may well break out.
Gang kids used to stay in their own neighborhoods, but that seems to have broken down. It may make for trouble at public events, but on longer view, it may be very positive for the development of group relations in American society. You have people feeling more comfortable moving into parts of town and having relations in public with people of other ethnicitiesand other income levels. That seems to me to be positive.
Q: What changes have brought gang youth into the mainstream youth culture?
Katz: Mainstream culture has gone out to reach the gangs, not the other way around. Popular culture, movies, dress styles--they celebrate and emulate what they present as gang or criminal styles. It’s not that gang culture has changed so much. It’s that popular culture is now drawing on those images and creating a mass market to present them. Gang kids, whose styles used to be kept out of the mainstream, now find they don’t look so different. They can more comfortably go places where they would have stood out as oddballs.
Q: What changes might have to be made to continue staging events such as the Fiesta Broadway. Should we just stop having them?
Katz: I am sympathetic to those who say it would be extortion to give up a positive event because of the actions of a few. But if you’re going to try to control these events, the only way to do that is to make them for older adults or put a price tag on them that keeps out poor kids.
