Vancouver city councillor demanding all 4/20 costs to be covered by organizers
Posted April 19, 2019 9:06 pm.
Last Updated April 19, 2019 9:16 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – More than 100,000 people are expected to turn up to 420 celebrations at Sunset Beach on Saturday.
But one Vancouver city councillor is trying to ensure vendors and those who take part pay for all costs of the festival.
“This is no longer a protest. Let’s be very clear about that,” says NPA Councillor Melissa De Genova.
She says with the sunny weather, the legalization of pot and headliner Cypress Hill, crowds and costs are expected to be higher than ever before.
That’s why she says it’s only fair those who take part like organizers, vendors and business licence holders pay up.
“It’s a commercial event that’s calling itself a protest. They are selling booth space on city land. Where are these revenues going? They have broadcast packages live from the site, going for $25,000. When it comes down to it, we need to recover those costs.”
In the coming weeks De Genova will bring her motion to council, asking for city staff to look at what legal action that can be taken.
“My motion looks to recover costs to make sure protests are happening where they aren’t selling products, where they’re not making revenues in the millions of dollars.”
If approved city staff would review legal action against organizers to recover costs and also consider taking action against any company business or organization taking part in the event.
