Huntington Beach Rejects Concert Idea

Huntington Beach city officials Friday rejected the idea of a massive outdoor charity concert by the city pier, citing concerns over traffic, noise, litter and the city’s liability in case of injury.

Max Bowman, deputy director of the Community Services Department, said the city was approached a few weeks ago by representatives of Martin Public Relations of Tustin about a Labor Day concert featuring eight or nine bands, including the Beach Boys. Concert organizers agreed to push the date back to Sept. 21 because of anticipated congestion in the area on Labor Day, but the city nevertheless decided against the proposal.

Although Martin representatives cited the Beach Boys as the main attraction, the group’s manager, Jerry Schilling, said the rock band had no plans to participate in the show, and he “strongly” doubted that they would have even if approval for the concert had been granted.

The city’s Specific Events Committee denied the application after a Thursday review in which Martin Vice President David Vaporean estimated the crowd for such a show at about 65,000. The group’s plan called for the concert to take place on about a half-mile of sand to the south of the pier.

‘Moving Too Fast

Bowman said police and other city officials estimated the concert as planned would probably draw at least 150,000 people. “When you’re talking about that number of people and parking and the overall impact on the citizens, you need at least six months to plan it out, probably more than that,” he said. “Everything was moving a little too fast.”

Vaporean said his firm is doing all the advance work on the project for a promoter--whose name he wouldn’t reveal--and that a decision would be made next week on whether to appeal the ruling to the City Council.

He said funds raised by the concert from a cable TV broadcast and corporate sponsorship were to be used for tree replanting efforts in California areas hit by brush fires this summer. “Millions of acres of valuable forest land and watershed were burned,” he said. “A major reforestation project is needed which the government cannot afford to finance.”