"A change to how Berkeley enforces the state fire code will force two popular street events, the city's Juneteenth Festival and a holiday gift market on Telegraph Avenue, out of the locations where they've been held for decades. Meanwhile, city officials are also moving to increase the fees they charge organizers for those and other events an effort to better reflect the staff work that goes into planning for street festivals that is expected to add thousands of dollars to the cost of permits."
"Either one of those changes would represent a significant challenge for the Juneteenth celebration and the Telegraph Holiday Fair, according to their organizers, who say the festivals run on tight budgets with little margin for new expenses. Taken together, they say, the city's steps could prove fatal for those and other events that are fixtures of Berkeley's cultural calendar. We're almost being told that we're kind of like a nuisance, and they want to down-size us"
A change in enforcement of the state fire code will force the Berkeley Juneteenth Festival and a long-running holiday gift market on Telegraph Avenue to relocate from their longtime locations. City officials are also increasing fees for street festivals to better reflect staff planning work, which could add thousands of dollars to permit costs. Organizers say both steps, individually and together, threaten events that operate on tight budgets and could prove fatal for community cultural fixtures. Peter Radu, head of Neighborhood Services Division, says relocations are necessary to keep fire lanes and emergency routes clear. The city and Berkeley Fire Department declined an interview.
Read at www.berkeleyside.org
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