Yes, he did do a really good job. his mistake was in losing sight of the neighborhood this was supposed to be about. He got too good at organizing a major regional festival — and that brought on the ire of the neighborhood it was supposed to be about. He made it too big, too pricey. for instance, a neighborhood event should not be spending $20,000 for any band — just stick with the local cover bands.
Then the city added the final straw: it started charging hundreds of thousands of dollars for the fair — unlike other festivals, like the Day of the Lotus Festival in Echo Park that doesn’t have to pay the city anything. that was imposed with fairly short notice the year before — and the Festival fought and tried to get an exemption, or at least a serious reduction — it certainly was too late to cancel the event as contracts are signed many months in advance.
But bureaucracies drag anything on and on and on. So the dispute about the previous year’s charges was still pending as this past year’s festival was nearing. and this past year’s event became hostage to the dispute. But by that time, it was again far too late to cancel, without the result being complete bankruptcy, as everything was already contracted — as you can see from the list of creditors in the bankruptcy case, all the bands, all the booths, all the rides, all the staff, etc.
So, in the end it was the city’s new, huge fees and refusal to at least make them more reasonable that bankrupted the entire organization. that much money just was not available from funds on hand from last year’s event, nor could it be supported by even the $20 door charge for the event that everyone was complaining was far too much. and it is the city that doesn’t give the permit until the last minute, so there is no choice but to enter all the contracts long before the city gets around to doing its part and dealing with the permit.
And Garcetti should be castigated for the false and slanderous vilification he started. that was truly dirty politics — and by a city that has become seriously money grubbing at every turn, from these fees, to red light camera fines of $500, to street parking fees at $3 and $4 an hour, to price hikes at every turn. This confrontation over the festival fees wasn’t about McKinley — it was a money grubbing city government imposing its mordida and blackmailing the event — for this festival, all led by Garcetti.
Whether you were for or against this festival (in the later years, I was against it as no longer a neighborhood affair), it is the city’s action and conduct that brought on this nasty confrontation and bankruptcy. Michael McKinley worked damn hard all year on this festival and the other things the group operated. He probably should have somehow come up with the funds to make last year’s payment earlier — but they just did not exist, and at the last second became available only by outside individuals lending their personal money, but too late.
As for McKinley’s pay, I don’t know how much he got. however, I do know that most of these people running these “non-profit” neighborhood groups are paying themselves in six figures, as do the people running most non-profits of all kinds. none of the employees of the nonprofits can work 40 hours a week as volunteers. McKinley had to work hard full time year round to organize this, and to handle the other things the group ran (such as Tsunami coffeehouse), all of which is being lost to this bankruptcy.
Silver Lake’s Sunset Junction festival still draws a crowd – in bankruptcy court