Representatives of various Downtown interests will work together in an attempt to fix real and perceived problems caused by the annual Fiesta Broadway street fair, which typically draws hundreds of thousands of revelers for a one-day run that blankets a large section of the city’s center each spring.
The group—described by volunteers as a task force—will include representatives of Fiesta Broadway, residents, business and property owners, local Business Improvement Districts (BIDs), and elected officials who represent the area, among others.
Plans for the formation of the task force followed a May 1 meeting that brought together members of those various segments of the community to discuss the effects of Fiesta Broadway on the businesses and residents of Downtown.
Fiesta Broadway is a long-running event that features a number of musical stages, other entertainment, food vendors, and plenty of marketing by various companies. The fiesta is centered on Broadway but has grown to include portions of Hill and Spring streets between Temple Street on the north and Olympic Boulevard on the south. The fiesta typically prompts extensive street closures for nearly 36 hours, a period of time that includes 16 hours in advance of the event, when crews set up stages and booths, and another 12 hours for clean-up efforts afterward.
A number of local residents and property and business owners complained that the April 27 run of Fiesta Broadway saw organizers block access to apartment and condominium complexes as well as retail shops for an extended period of time.
Some complained that the street closures left residents of the Eastern Columbia Building at 9th and Broadway and other apartment and condominium complexes with no way to enter or exit their buildings in their cars. Organizers of Fiesta Broadway had apparently promised to make arrangements for alternate parking in some cases, but a number of Eastern Columbia residents said those plans fell apart and left them stuck.
Russell Brown—who serves as president of the Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council and executive director of the Historic Downtown BID—which sees large sections of its area included in Fiesta Broadway each year—said he hopes the task force can be an instrument for anticipating and solving problems before next year’s event.
No meetings of the task force had been scheduled as of presstime, and it had yet to be determined which individual or entity involved would take the lead on the effort.
Anyone interested can call the office of 14th District Los Angeles City Councilmember Jose Huizar at (213) 473-7014 for more information.
