On June 14 San Bernardino County Supervisors will have to make a decision to either end electronic dance raves or not. The raves are held at San Manuel Amphitheater by Live Nation and Insomniac.
Rutherford’s spokesman Scott Vanhorne said Monday that Rutherford was looking to bring forth an item to terminate the county’s 2013 agreement with Live Nation Worldwide Inc. next month although it was initially believed the proposal would go in front of the dais Tuesday. However, Vanhorne said Tuesday’s agenda was essentially too full.
Rutherford is leading an effort to end the agreement that allowed Live Nation to hold four rave-style events per year at the amphitheater and extend the hours of operation for such events from 11 p.m. to 2 a.m., saying it has grown into a nuisance for the area surrounding the amphitheater and other nearby residents. “The impacts on the community have become absolutely intolerable,” she said during a supervisors’ meeting April 5.
During that meeting, several Devore residents spoke out against the events, criticizing the noise and traffic and expressing concerns for public safety, while Rutherford suggested the sentiment could be echoed by dozens or hundreds more. She also referenced two overdose deaths that have occurred at the site since the introduction three years ago of the Nocturnal Wonderland and Beyond Wonderland raves put on by Insomniac Events, a division of Live Nation. Messages left with Insomniac and Live Nation on Monday were not immediately returned.
The amended contract agreement passed 3-2 on Jan. 29, 2013, according to county documents, and included “event termination provisions based on recurrent noise violations and nuisance behavior associated with event goers.” Rutherford, who along with then-Supervisor Gary Ovitt voted down the amendment, asked the county’s legal counsel last month how supervisors could “activate” the cancellation provision amid purported contract violations. At that time, the county’s legal counsel said the county would partner with the parks department to investigate issues raised by residents. If those issues were corroborated, a notice would be sent to Live Nation.
Vanhorne said that prior to 2013’s agreement, the 11 p.m. event curfew had been the standard since 1992, adding that while the two deaths were “tragic,” the vendor’s inability to mitigate noise issues was the ultimate driver behind Rutherford’s push. “Really, where it cuts down to is, that 2 in the morning is too late to have loud music playing at that venue,” he said, “and it’s unfair to residents of Devore who for years have been able to not have noise after 11 p.m.”
