WEST HOLLYWOOD—On Monday, April 3, the West Hollywood City Council unanimously voted to pay the $1 million security cost for this year’s L.A. Pride festival on Saturday, June 10, and Sunday, June 11, and the accompanying Resist March on June 11. This year, the total budget is estimated to be almost $1 million.
Public safety costs will include the presence of the sheriff, fire department and medical officials, and traffic control throughout the parade route. According to a report from the April 3 council meeting, a medical care center operated by Emergency Response 1 will be present for the duration of the event. The West Hollywood Sheriff Station and the Los Angeles Police Department are also coordinating security for the Resist March. Security measures will be tightened, following the shooting in Orlando in June 2016, when 49 people were killed.
The Resist March was promoted earlier this year by Brian Pendleton, chairman of Christopher Street West (CSW), the nonprofit organization in charge of the yearly L.A. Pride parade and festival. Inspired by the success of the Women’s March In January, it is intended for participants to march in unity and to “demonstrate a resistance to homophobia, xenophobia, sexism, and racism,” according to the City of West Hollywood. Resist Marches have been scheduled nationwide for June 11, and unique and diverse voices will come together to promote peace.
The march will replace the 47th annual Pride parade this year. It will start on Hollywood Boulevard at Highland and follow a 3.1 mile path on La Brea Avenue, before turning onto Santa Monica Boulevard. It will end at La Peer Drive, west of the entrance to the Pride festival in West Hollywood Park.
The festival will be downsized due to the construction that began in January. Only the park’s lawn and auditorium will be available for the event, along with the stretch of San Vicente Boulevard between Melrose Avenue and Santa Monica Boulevard.
City Council members recommend that CSW continue to pay a $25,000 security deposit and $80,000 toward the total public safety bill, as it has done in previous years. The organization will also be required to reimburse the city for street cleaning costs and the removal and reinstallation of basketball equipment at West Hollywood Park.
The Pride festival will be a ticketed event, held on Saturday, June 10 from 12 p.m. to 1 a.m., and Sunday, June 11 at 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. The Resist March will begin at 8 a.m. at the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue. For more information, visit www.lapride.org.
