RAVE PARTIES / FINES

Motion - A recent illegal RAVE style party left four wounded and one dead after 200 underage partygoers attempted an escape from a crowded pool hall on South Broadway after a dispute ensued. Jeremy Andre Cervantes, 19, a Los Angeles partygoer shot and injured three people before he was confronted by one of a dozen police officers trying to shut down the party. The fatal shooting which occurred is the fifth connected with the illegal RAVE parties this year in the 77th Street Division and the second at the same building. So far, 13 people have died from gunshot wounds at so-called flier parties in L.A. County this year alone. In some parts of the country, the term "flier party" is synonymous with a rave. In Southern California, though, a flier party usually refers to a big party at someone's house, advertised by fliers passed out at high schools, record stores and malls. Admission to the parties is usually anywhere from $3 to $5. They attract partygoers from the ages of 15 to 26. Party crews can make up to $4,000 a night by charging admission and selling beer and other party favorites, including happy balloons, which give the recipient a mild, dizzy high and generally cost $3. Some party crews advertise wet T-shirt and G-string contests or hot women and half-price drinks. Whatever it takes to bring in the crowds. The parties act as nightclubs, though without fire codes, security checks and doorman asking for identification. Fliers come in all shapes and sizes but are typically 8-by-10-inch Xerox copies or 3-by-5-inch glossies. The fliers list the promoter and the date of the party, as well as a phone number to call for the location, which is generally not in service until an hour or so before the event. Sometimes the party location is not provided right away. In such cases, partygoers are sent to a central screening location, like a street corner or fast-food restaurant, where they will be sent to another spot if they pass the screening. It goes on and on until the partygoer eventually arrives at a location where there is a DJ. A flier party can easily draw 300 to 500 partiers from all over the city almost instantaneously. LAPD detectives acknowledge that throughout the city there has been an escalation of assaults, shots fired and homicides at flier parties, which they say attract a deadly combination of underage drinking and gangs to locations where there is usually no adult supervision and very little security. Party violence is rapidly becoming a countywide epidemic. Shootings have occurred from La Puente to Ladera Heights to Highland Park, in abandoned buildings, in homes with parents in attendance and in halls. "I think (these parties) are insane," said 77th Division Homicide Detective Jay Moberly. "Anyone who would let their kids go is nuts. These gang parties and raves seem to be tied together. There are some quarrels about who is going to sell what at the parties. It often comes down to a dispute over who is going to control the happy balloons, who is going to sell the booze for $2 a shot. They are just bad news. The obvious answer is closer parental control, but that doesn't seem to be working too well. A lot of these things have a sexual overtone to them. We get wind of them. We should shut them down before they start, but they will just go to another location." THEREFORE MOVE that the City Attorney with the assistance of the Los Angeles Police Department, Los Angeles Fire Department, Department of Building of Safety draft and present an Ordinance within 30 days to the Public Safety Committee. This Ordinance should address, at minimum, the ability to recover the full expenses incurred by Public Safety agencies (Los Angeles Police Department and the City of Los Angeles Fire Department) and Enforcement Departments, (Building & Safety) by implementing fines or increasing the fines which are already in place from all parties involved or responsible for the party (party promoters, leasing agents, landlords, party participants). FURTHER MOVE that the City Council request that the CLA convene an illegal RAVE Party Task Force comprised of representatives from the Police, Fire, and Building and Safety Departments; the Office of the City Attorney; and that the CLA request, on behalf of the City Council for the participation by the Los Angeles Unified School District to provide recommendations for long term strategies to deter the proliferation of the illegal parties and to draft an ordinance to establish a penalty for distributing and advertising for an illegal RAVE party within the City of Los Angeles. REFER TO COUNCIL FILE 96-0701