Concerned event planners are meeting at the L.A. Police Commission at 2:30pm today to have their two minutes of public comment on rumored proposed changes to the L.A. event permitting process. These changes would make it more difficult to put on legitimate and underground events in the city. Here’s more info from the Facebook event page:

The current process takes 30 days to complete for an experienced promoter and costs us anywhere from $300 to $3000. The CID or Commissions Investigation Division is currently proposing for a 90 day turnover, which will make it much harder for you to host both legitimate and underground events while obviously making it take much longer. Not only do we need to pull the permits from 3-4 different agencies but we also have to submit fingerprints on a Live Scan system twice per year and pay a $265 fee for a permit that will now take LAPD 90 days to issue. They want your fingerprints in a national database along with many other entertainment professionals.

Our goal is to inform all affected parties including organizers of 1 night dance events, sound/ lighting companies, security guards, venue managers/ owners, catering services and anyone that the LA City Attorney has taken to court for not having the right permits. We will all be affected by this change. The proposed date of this change is April 1, 2010. After that date it will take over 90 days for you to have a “special event” with the proper permits and it will be much easier for authorities to locate your events (via process of elimination).

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=327397054574

The rave community is naturally very nervous about this. E withdrawal only makes them more emotional.