COUNCIL WAIVES MILLIONS IN FEES CITY GIVEAWAYS BEING QUESTIONED.

Byline: Mariel Garza Staff Writer

The Los Angeles City Council waives millions of dollars each year for providing traffic, security and other services for special events, from neighborhood block parties to star-studded awards shows.

Some are questioning whether the city should provide free services to money-making ventures such as the Academy Awards, which earns more than $50 million a year, at the same time it is raising rates and cutting back on services to its residents.

``It's out of control,'' said City Councilman Dennis Zine, noting that the city lacks a coherent fee structure and policy on what it waives and how much it actually costs the city to provide services.

At the request of the City Council, the Chief Legislative Analyst's Office is studying the method and costs of fee waivers and will report back when the council returns from its summer hiatus on Sept. 3.

Those fees are set up to fund the overtime pay for traffic control and police officers, the placement of barriers and no-parking signs for street closures, as well as related services that come right out of the city's general fund.

The report is long overdue. After controversy arose in January 2002 over the the waiver of a $30,000 fee for a religious event at the Los Angeles Convention Center, Councilman Jack Weiss sought a comprehensive review of waivers with an eye toward reducing costs.

He also sought the review, said Weiss' spokeswoman Lisa Hansen, because the fee waivers seem arbitrary, with some events having to pay fees and others being exempted, and accounting random.

``The marathon is singled out to pay fees, but other events don't, so that doesn't seem fair,'' Hansen said.

Under the agreement with the city, the marathon pays $120,000 for workers to close off more than 26 miles of streets and control crowds - services that some officials estimate actually cost as much as $500,000 to provide.

It's unclear how much the city spends to host the annual Academy Awards, but during this year's show more than 1,000 police officers from various agencies turned out to secure the events during the jittery pre-Iraq War atmosphere.

The study Weiss requested languished, however, until last month's deadly Santa Monica farmers market crash. The council revived the issue after discussing street closures for public events and the high cost of providing adequate barriers for pedestrian safety.

``The issue is money,'' Allan Willis of the Department of Transportation told the council at its July 23 meeting.

``It's a question of whether we either come up with the funding to provide those resources, whether we put it on event sponsors that they provide the resources by paying part of the cost of this, or whether we decide to control the number of events that are being authorized.''

Generally, the city waives fees for nonprofit organizations but charges private companies and organizations to pay, said city Assistant Chief Legislative Analyst Gerry Miller.

But for some events - Dodger games for example - the city donates its services. ``Some are in the city's best interest to do.''

Requests for fee waivers from community groups and nonprofit organizations come through the representing council district field office. They are forwarded to the Chief Legislative Analyst's Office, which attaches an estimated cost and types up a motion for a waiver.

Most council meetings include a batch of fee waivers that are passed without discussion.

``Eighty percent of the motions on my desks are asking for waivers,'' City Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski noted when calling for the review.

From July 8 to Aug. 9, the City Council waived about $420,000 in special event fees - that would be more than $5 million a year, or enough money to hire 50 additional LAPD officers.

It won't be easy to reform the process. For starters, many grass-roots groups cannot afford to pay the costs.

During a recent meeting, the council waived $33,000 in fees for six special events, including $16,980 for the 27th Festival of the Chariots Parade sponsored by the Hari Krishna Temple in West Los Angeles and $1,188 for the upcoming Davana Terrace Block Party in Sherman Oaks.

Paul Napier, a 36-year resident of Davana Terrace and organizer of the block party, said households on the residential street just south of Ventura Boulevard paid $20 each for a disc jockey, dunk tank, food, games and liability insurance. But people would have balked at the $1,118 city bill.

``We'd have to think about what we charge or whether we could even do it,'' Napier said.

Some organizations that can afford to pay, like award shows, are Los Angeles icons that city officials say bring business and prestige to the city.

``There's no question these events have social and economic benefits,'' Hansen said. ``There's no question that they're good for for Los Angeles, for the hotels, for taxes, for publicity and excitement.''

Mariel Garza, [phone]

mariel.garza(at)dailynews.com

CITY FREEBIES

The Los Angeles City Council waives fees for events large and small. Here are some recent examples from city records between Aug. 1-6:

--The 18th annual African Marketplace and Cultural Fair held Aug. 16 to Sept. 1: $10,000 in fees waived.

--The 23rd annual Sunset Junction Fair, Aug. 23-25: $28,000 in fees waived.

--The Beverly Homeowners Association Block Party, Aug. 3: $1,188 in fees waived.

--Latinos and Technology Conference: $6,287 in Convention Center fees waived.

SOURCE: City of Los Angeles 

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CITY FREEBIES (see text)