CARSON : Council Asked to Curb Rowdy Rock Concerts

Residents angry about noise and rowdiness at recent concerts at Cal State Dominguez Hills have asked the City Council to tighten control of the events.

At a hearing Tuesday, residents complained of music so loud it rattled their windows, and of people urinating in public and using profanity that could be heard miles away.

“This is not the site for these concerts that are by definition loud and vulgar,” said Carson resident Gary Colbath.

More than 300 complaints were lodged after a performance by Metallica, a heavy metal rock group, and a Lollapalooza concert tour stop that included the Beastie Boys and Smashing Pumpkins.

The council directed the city attorney to review whether any city ordinances could be used to reduce littering and other problems caused by concert-goers.

“We don’t have the power to tell the university to stop these concerts,” Mayor Michael I. Mitoma said.

But university officials have made concessions to neighbors. They canceled the last two rock concerts scheduled for this year and said they would meet with residents to discuss future concerts.

But residents groups don’t want any additional concerts scheduled on the campus. They said they plan to involve state and local politicians in their effort to prohibit concerts on the Dominguez Hills campus.

“We cannot go on like this, said Colbath, who heads one of the residents groups. “Something has got to happen.”

The shows have been held at or near the Olympic Velodrome, an outdoor cycling arena built for the 1984 Olympics. The nonprofit Dominguez Hills University Foundation raises about $300,000 per year to maintain the facility, said Nick Curl, who manages the site. Much of that money comes from the concerts, Curl said.