No Street Scene in Balboa

San Diego promoter Rob Hagey’s proposal to move his annual Street Scene festival from the Qualcomm Stadium parking lot to the city’s Balboa Park crashed and burned December 7th.

Members of the Balboa Park Committee denied Hagey’s request to hold the festival in the park despite the promoter’s promises to creatively address complaints and to raise money for the park via what he called “ticket incentives.”

Committee member Vicki Granowitz told Hagey, “You could not pay the park enough to have this event. This does not fit the character of our park,” according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Other heated opposition came from San Diego Natural History Museum’s Michael Hager, who believed the festival would conflict with a Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit held at the same time. He also raised concern that noise from the festival would interfere with performances at the park’s Old Globe Theatre.

Mayor Jerry Sanders, the park department, police, fire and special-events offices and a handful of neighborhood residents joined Hager in his concerns.

Several concert-goers suffered minor injuries in a crowd surge during AFI‘s performance in 2005, and more than a dozen fans were hospitalized after a similar disturbance during Tool‘s 2006 performance. Hagey’s desire to move the festival to a new location reportedly stems from a steady drop in attendance since it was moved from the city’s Gas Lamp Quarter to the Qualcomm site.

The promoter did not return calls at press time.