Raves: Parties, Sporting Events Will Need Special Vote to Happen at L.A. Coliseum, Sports Arena: Venues Get New Temporary Chief, Too

Kids at the coliseum.

That was the decision of the commission this week as it continued to deal with the fallout from last summer's Electric Daisy Carnival.

The vote also means that all events at the venues will now come before the body instead of just getting rubber stamped by the general manager. That didn't seem to turn out so well in 2010.

Last June's Electric Daisy Carnival was a bit of a mess at times, with 200 medical emergencies, people getting crushed and injured in a bum-rush over barriers, 60, mostly drug-related arrests, and the death of a 15-year-old girl who had taken ecstasy.

A man named Todd DeStefano oversaw security planning for the promoter.

When the Los Angeles Times revealed that DeStefano also happened to be a longtime Coliseum events manager, it set off a firestorm that led to the resignation of CEO and general manager Patrick Lynch.

The double dipping by DeStefano could be illegal and is under investigation.

In the wake of that scandal, the L.A. Coliseum got a new interim chief.

John R. Sandbrook is a former Coliseum commissioner who also worked in the upper administrative ranks of the University of California for 37 years.

As such, he'll ironically be double dipping a bit (albeit legally so), because he gets a $182,000 annual pension as a UC retiree. The Coliseum is going to pay him $80,000 for 20 weeks of work starting Monday.

He was singled out by the UC technical and professional employees union in 2009 for taking home $200,000 while getting a $24,000 'administrative stipend,' up to $3,500 a month for housing, weekly round-trip airfare worth about $1,200, and rental cars for travel (PDF).

All the while UC staffers were seeing furloughs and students were seeing massive fee increases.

The commission will search for permanent leader in the meantime.

The body approved 61-year-old Sandbrook unanimously as interim chief administrative officer at its meeting Tuesday afternoon.

City Council candidate Forescee Hogan-Rowles took the opportunity to weigh in on raves. She's against the parties.

Her opponent, South L.A. incumbent Bernard Parks, has been a vocal supporter of the events, which says bring thousands of jobs and millions in revenue to the area.

Hogan-Rowles was happy to hear that the parties were done, at least for now. The promoter of Electric Daisy Carnival announced last week he would move the two-day event to Las Vegas rather than continue to fight to have it at the Coliseum in June.

She wants raves "altogether eliminated from the Coliseum's schedule of events."

They usually happen four times at year at the Coliseum and Sports Arena and, according to the attorney for the family of the 15-year-old overdose victim, make up nearly 30 percent of the venues' annual revenues.

Hogan-Rowles praised the latest developments.

"The people of the community will no longer have to deal with the illegal drug use" brought by the parties, she said.