For the week of August 8 - 14, 2001

Ratdog denied special-events permit

Sun Valley says Elkhorn too small for concert

By PETER BOLTZ
Express Staff Writer

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"Ratdog draws an older, 30- to 50-year-old audience who used to follow the Dead."

— Preston Thornton, Bravo Entertainment

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Deadheads will have to do their reminiscing somewhere other than the Elkhorn Resort plaza on Labor Day.

Ratdog, a band formed by ex-Grateful Dead member Bob Weir, will not be playing. Nor will any of the other bands in the "So Many Roads Tour."

Brothers Paul and Preston Thornton, owners of Bravo Entertainment, which is promoting the concert, were denied a special-events permit by the city on July 17.

The reasons cited by city administrator Dan Pincetich were the estimated size of the audience and the traffic and parking problems they would cause.

Bravo’s appeal to overturn the denial was voted down at a Sun Valley City Council meeting Friday because of the council’s concerns for the health, safety and welfare of residents living around the resort.

After the decision, Preston Thornton, who was present at the meeting with attorney Barry Luboviski, said the council members made their decision "based on their personal feelings toward the music and the people who listen to it."

"Ratdog draws an older, 30- to 50-year-old audience who used to follow the Dead," he said.

The city had no problems with past Bravo concerts, such as Santana, which drew 4,500 people in 1998, he said.

Calling the council’s decision discrimination, he said, "This is the end of Bravo concerts up here."

Council President Latham Williams, acting as mayor for the absent Dave Wilson, denied Thornton’s accusation.

"The type of music absolutely was not a factor in our analysis of this appeal," Williams said. "Two, maybe three of the council didn’t even know what kind of music Ratdog played."

During the 1½ hours the council spent on the issue, the bands or type of music did not come up in discussion.

Thornton’s application was for an audience of 3,000, but Pincetich said Bravo’s advertising said 4,000.

As the city’s administrator, Pincetich said, "it is my business to plan for 4,000 in what is primarily a residential area."

Thornton held to his estimate of 3,000 concertgoers despite the advertising. He estimated that 2,000 of those people would come in 500 vehicles and the remaining 1,000 would use a shuttle from Ketchum.

His estimate of more than 500 available parking spaces around the Elkhorn Resort was quickly challenged by Pincetich.

"There really are only about 350, maximum, places available," he said.

In his July 17 letter of denial to Bravo, he wrote, "There has been a large undeveloped parcel adjacent to the Elkhorn Resort that has been used at previous events of this size for off-street parking. Now this parcel is no longer available."

Fire protection for Elkhorn Resort and surrounding condominiums was also a concern of the council’s.

Sun Valley Fire Chief Jeff Carnes said illegally parked cars and buses could block the fire department’s access to areas around the concert.

Outside the meeting room, Thornton said he couldn’t see any difference between what he was proposing this year with the "So Many Roads Tour" and what he proposed last year for the Tracy Chapman concert.

However, Councilman Williams said "the difference between this year and last is that parking has changed and we learned (things) from the Tracy Chapman concert, like patron egress, fire safety and police resources."

Thornton said the concert would be moved to Sandy Point Beach in Boise, Sept. 3 at 6 p.m. Tickets are available through Ticket Web, (800) 965-4827, or Select-a-Seat, (208) 331-8497.

The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.