This comes from our friends at BarKeeper:
As you may be aware, the annual Sunset Junction Street Fair has changed radically the last few years. For example, it went from a "suggested donation" to a manditory $20 per person entry fee. The year before last (2007), the businesses in Sunset Junction were excluded entirely from the festival and last year (2008), while the businesses were technically included, the promoter refused to have booths, toilets, or garbage cans east of Sanborn.
Also, although the liquor license included the blocks in the Junction east of Sanborn, security from the festival forced people to throw away their beer before they allowed them to walk down the blocks in front of our stores.
Over the last several years, many of the businesses in Sunset Junction have participated in meetings with the organizers through Eric Garcetti's staff in our City Council Office 13. Unfortunately we haven't had luck negotiating with the promoter.
As a last resort, we have created a petition asking that the Sunset Junction Street Fair stop.
Please understand that many of us love what the Sunset Junction once stood for- "celebrating the diversity of the neighborhood!" It has become, in my opinion, a music festival that excludes the majority of what we are all about. It is my hope that the festival, as it has become, will go away for a year and return in the future as an event more like it once was!
I am requesting that you sign the on-line petition and include your concerns about what the festival has become and what it should evolve into. Here's the link.
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This petition is for people who oppose the sunset junction festival 2009. People have different reasons for opposing the festival. SOME REASONS:
THE ORGANIZERS DON'T INVITE INPUT FROM THE COMMUNITY.
THE $20 MANDATORY TICKET PRICE PER DAY.
THE AREA THAT IS ELIGIBLE FOR FREE WRISTBANDS IS MUCH TOO SMALL.
IT'S GROWN TOO LARGE AND WOULD BE BETTER AT A DIFFERENT LOCATION.
THE LACK OF PARKING MAKES PEOPLE PRISONERS OF THEIR RESIDENCES FOR THE ENTIRE WEEKEND.
THE EVENT DOESN'T SEEM "LOCAL" ANY LONGER. You don't see your neighbors, instead its people from outside the hood.
THE ORGANIZERS, A CHARITY, DON'T MAKE IT CLEAR HOW THEY SPEND THE MONEY THEY MAKE ON THE EVENT.
THE ENTERTAINMENT ARE TOO "BIG NAME", NOT LOCAL ENOUGH.
NEIGHBORHOOD STREET PERFORMERS CANNOT PERFORM UNLESS THEY PURCHASE A SPACE.
THE AREA INCLUDED AS PART OF THE FESTIVAL HAS CHANGED, EXCLUDING THE ACTUAL "SUNSET JUNCTION" BLOCKS