New Westminster city council wants to ensure that local festivals remain safe and family friendly.
Council has directed staff to report back with a family-oriented and public safety policy for street festivals and parades in New Westminster. This would include the appropriateness of vendors and activities that occur on city streets or property, a financial report of festivals that occur in the city and a set of guidelines to govern these activities.
The request was in response to concerns raised about the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club's attendance at the 12th Street Music Festival, where it was selling items such as T-shirts.
Some members of New Westminster city council and the New Westminster Police Service expressed surprise and concern about the Angels' attendance at the July 31 festival.
"I agree with the concerns for public safety," said Coun. Bob Osterman. "It makes good sense that we have some guidelines."
John Ashdown, one of the organizers of the 12th Street Music Festival, issued a public apology to the city and the community for the "misjudgment" in allowing the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club to display its merchandise at the festival.
On Monday, Ashdown cautioned city council not to be too "heavy handed" with restrictions that may be detrimental to the festivals that are making positive contributions to the community.
"There are already guidelines in place," he said about city grants.
New Westminster resident James Crosty suggested council accept that an "error in judgment" may have been made, but avoid making the grant process too onerous for festival organizers.
"Please be careful with that," he said. "I would like to have the communities that put these on to consult with that."
Coun. Bill Harper said the city has a responsibility regarding community festivals because they are often held on city streets. In some cases, the city has provided grants for these festivals.
"It's appropriate to have staff take a serious look at the issue," he said.
Although council requested the staff report in response to the Angels' attendance at the 12th Street Music Festival, no one directly mentioned the Angels when discussing the council recommendation.
"We want to move forward and look at all of our festivals and make sure we have a policy in place to make sure this type of thing doesn't happen again in the future," said acting mayor Jonathan Cote.
Cote said staff will report back to council with options for its consideration. He said the intention isn't to create a policy that will be cumbersome for residents organizing community festivals, but to ensure the events meet the city's objectives.
"Before any policy is implemented we are going to want that (community) feedback," he said.
The City of New Westminster provided the West End Business Association with $6,300 in cash and in-kind services for the 12th Street Music Festival, which helped with costs associated with tents, setup for the event and policing and engineering costs.
Through the arts and culture grant program, the city provided $4,300 for inkind services and $2,000 in cash for the 2011 event.
