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Raves: Controversial 'Electric Daisy Carnival' Planned for June to Get a Look-See by L.A. Coliseum Officials

Categories: Raves

Thumbnail image for edc crowd.JPG
The crowd at 'EDC.'
Los Angeles Coliseum officials will take a look at plans for June's Electric Daisy Carnival rave next week. The Coliseum Commission will likely give the plans a thumbs up or down.

The two-day party, which drew about 160,000 people to the publicly owned venue last year, drew criticism after a 15-year-old girl who had attended the event died of an ecstasy overdose.

Officials threatened to pull the plug on raves at the Coliseum and Sports Arena and have said they are on thin ice. But in December they decided to give EDC another chance, declaring that promoters would have to submit plans for their approval.

The Los Angeles Times this week posted the agenda for Wednesday's 2:30 p.m. meeting. It shows that EDC is up for approval.

Coliseum Commissioner Rick Caruso has been the ardent opponent of the events and told the Weekly that he would ask the commission to reconsider what has essentially been a green light despite some on-the-record concerns.

The body voted to impose an 18-and-older policy for the parties along with stricter policing, increased medical personnel on-site and "harm reduction" education about the dangers of ecstasy. The last EDC was supposed to be 16-and-older but the Weekly was told IDs weren't checked -- at least at one entrance.

But even with the new policies that last event, the Together As One New Year's Eve party, saw 17 hospitalizations and 33 arrests. More importantly, many IDs weren't checked despite a hard-line ID-scanning policy approved by the commission.

Lines to get into the event grew dangerously long and police decided to let people in who appeared to be older than 18 without checking their cards as a way to avoid having people get hurt in a possible crush.

A Halloween rave at the same venue in 2010 saw 16 hospitalizations and 40 arrests.

The parties happen four times a year at the Coliseum and Sports Arena, which is also owned by the public and controlled by the commission. A lawsuit filed by the family of the overdose victim claims that 28 percent of the income taken in by the Coliseum and Sports Arena is tied to raves.

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2 comments
P-Dat
P-Dat

Didn't the Coliseum Commission vote in unanimously to lift the ban...twice? If Rick Caruso is such a vehement opponent, then why did he vote with his colleagues to lift the ban. Does he not know how to vote his conscience....or perhaps he just couldn't make it to the meeting for this important vote. And he wants to be Mayor....sounds like another rich wanna be, ala Meg Whitman trying to buy himself some attention.

Markthisismark
Markthisismark

Way to beat the dead horse. Theres nothing new here.You just wrote this to reignite flames. You have about 3 or 4 articles exactly like this one.And This article has nothing to do with the title. Your a horrible person Dennis. Just because you and every uneducated person need something to blame for drug use doesn't mean you should blame the Electronic dance scene.Why don't you write a real article or do some real research?Go report on the arrested police officer that lied about being shot which caused a city wide search and school lock downs, Or the Death at warped tour last year. Look, right there. I just did a better job than you'll ever do. You're pathetic and so is anyone that ever hired you.

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