Let's put it this way. With the city denying a permit for a second time this morning, and City Council president Eric Garcetti's office saying street fair organizers tried to “flimflam $400,000 from the taxpayers,” the prudent thing would be to not buy any tickets for this weekend's Sunset Junction street fair. If you're a band, cash the check quick. LA Biz Observed, LAT, The Eastsider LA
Oh and this: At 2:05 p.m., SunsetJunction.org is off the air. "Internal Server Error."
* 7:45 p.m. update: Site still down. On its Twitter feed, the Sunset Junction organization points fans to a Hollywood Reporter story in which organizers challenge the city's accounting on last year's fees. Left out is this from Board of Public Works chair Andrea Alarcon: "This organization has failed this city time and time again." Also from Garcetti's spokesman: "The fact that they came up with a large sum … in just 36 hours, shreds their credibility even more. They should have spent the last 12 months coming up with the full amount." LAT story, Patch
Annual issue is out this week