1st move the Festival to a larger venue area as it's gotten really cramped unless you want to close off Melrose Avenue too from Robertson Blvd to La Cienega for the festival

Perhaps it is time to put the Pride event out for another vendor to bid on. If CSW isn't delivering what City Council wants, then let another company create a vision and present that package to be voted on.

Can CSW and John D'Amico put together a Survey Monkey survey so we can all give our ideas and input?

I first went to the gay pride parade in 1980. I was 18 years old and never seen anything like that ever. I saw old bosses and even a teacher from grade school. The floats if you will call them that have always been tacky. Most are trucks with hunky men dancing with no shirts or in G-strings. Some marching bands and different groups. I think that s what people want? I haven't good in a long time as it really is an excuse to get really smashed and perhaps get laid. A lot of the boys refer to gay pride weekend as a tweekend event. The real meaning is never considered. Mostly younger gays having one BIG party. I'm not sure changing it is important. Why bother? It still attracts thousands and brings the city a ton of money.

Christopher Street West/LA Pride is all about money. I have covered the event since 2003 to present and I notice some of the celebs are not big names of the industry and also the people the get the awards and recognition are board members friends. In 2011 our magazine Diversity News Magazine was nominated for an award and they decided to give the award to the same sponsor from prior year. So we decided not to provide any coverage to an organization the only wants to give awards to people the are giving them money or buying those recognition. If you would like a copy of the nomination I can provide to you. Please contact me directly at: editor@diversitynewsmagazine.com Thanks

The event could not handle a big name entertainer like say Lady Ga, Ga or even Madonna. Can you imagine the amount of people. It is already super crowded. Also, I feel they charge to much for the festival. SF doesn't charge that much.

I am talking like Pepper MaShay who applied couple times and Recording Artist FAWN not Gaga.

Also to give the opportunity to Divas like Witney Houston, Irene Soderberg, Taylor Dane, Debby Holiday, Marion Ramsey. They are from LA and it will not be costly for CSW/LA to pay for their live performances.

I really don't see how the gay pride parade could be revamped? It is what it is. I could see spending money on over hauling it if it was not the huge success it is every year but the old logic why fix something that isn't broken. Honestly, with Long Beach, San Diego, San Francisco and Palm Springs having almost identical celebrations is it anything except an excuse to get smashed and party all weekend? I think most gays who have been there and done that year in and year out probably don't even go or participate. There is always the die hards but it's mostly people between 18-40 year old.

It's time for CSW's grip on the event to be abolished. Most big cities - SF, NYC come to mind - don't charge for the festival, only the events tied to it like dances and some of the entertainment. And somehow, other cities manage to find sponsors to pay for the general events.

For the past couple of years, I've suggested inviting some of the great food trucks we have in LA to provide the food for the festival. The food is much better and just the variety of foods, from cupcakes to Rounds Burgers would be a draw all on its own. CSW, as usual, turns a deaf ear. Then there are the choices for honorees and Grand Marshall, not to mention entertainment. In LA, we can't do better? For real? We are the entertainment capital of the world and the 2nd largest media market.

Then there are the financial bumblings of CSW. There have been problems over the years, hopefully straigtened out, but the most recent financial on CSW's website is from 2009. [The reason given is that CSW's year end is 12/31 and a non-profit's Form 990 isn't due, after all extensions, until Nov 15 of the next year. So, for example, the return for 2010 wasn't filed until Nov 15, 2011, so no 2010 financials are online yet.] They also don't like to provide multi-year comparison data.

Also missing are good spokespersons and a positive media message.

Time for a new producer. A for-profit one could do it better for less.

While we're at it, can we get rid of the name "Christopher Street West"? I've always found that to be rather offensive to L.A.'s own historical significance in the LGBT movement. I'm sure Christopher Street has little if any relevance to younger gays. In everything we do, we should be celebrating West Hollywood's amazing accomplishments, not living under the shadow of New York.

I thought I read that there was lack of creativity in the parade from a movie making capital.

Gay men ONLY care about sex and half naked men in the back of a big flat bed truck suits there needs.

I prefer the marching bands and the meaning. I little fluffy stuff is okay but the whole drag queen, men in G-strings is all that gets reported in the news and that scares people. It's no wonder they fear homosexuality. From a straight person prospective it is decadent and depraved and something they do not want there children exposed to. I know I am in a minority.

I agree, that is all they show on the news. But I think there are other images of gay people on tv to offset the flamboyant side of things. I guess if people are scared for their children, they better not take them to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. Now, that is decadent and depraved! And I am talking about the straight people! Again, you misused the word "there" for "their". One is a place, one is possessive.

With a male child who turns out to be gay it begins a difficult path for the family unit as young gay adolescences males with there hormones out of control are almost pushed and pressured into promiscuity at a tender age. The lifestyle does not promote a healthy lifestyle. Pick up a gay rag and what do you see but half naked men suggesting sexual acts if you come to this establishment for decadent fun times. There are also vultures who are waiting and willing to take advantage, ready to exploit young gay males. I always felt with the arrival of AIDS it would changed the way gay people interact and behave with treating each other better but it didn't. Maybe in the very early years of the epidemic but that soon changed. The ONLY times gays REALLY get united is for gay pride or when they can get on a soap box about something like gay marriage or what not. Gays never cared about gay marriage in the 80's. I just wonder why now it is all the sudden so important or if it is just an excuse to make noise?

I'm a gay man with some perspective having been a young man, having lived through a very difficult time with first hand experience regarding the AIDS crisis. That might not seem like a big deal to the gays coming up today but a huge segment of the gay population has been wiped out because of AIDS and continues to be but at a slower rate with the arrival of modern medicine. If you have ever been to a gay pride event and witnessed the huge crowd of people. Suddenly picture every single person there dropping dead and times that by about 10. That still would not measure the amount of people who have died from AIDS. Rather then project so much sexuality at the annual gay pride parade more thought should be placed on what we can do as a community so that more young people don't suffer that same fate from reckless behavior that is so heavy promoted at these events.

The terrible events of 9/11 are remembered yearly as they should be. Those people were just living there lives when one day they were snuffed out. One could compare that with The AIDS crisis. They use to do a quilt that had patches that represented those who lost the lives to AIDS. Maybe a good thing to honor our dead would be having some sort of ceremony similar to the annual 9/11 memory? Just a thought.

Since a more recent articke explains the huge amout of revenue the city earns from the annual Pride Event Weekend, I think any plans should be made based on increasing the revenue stream brought in by the visitors/watchers of the psrade.

To let this particular issue of revamping Pride become in any way a battlefield of emotions, personal opinions, testing new ideas 'just to show that weho is so creative a city' would be a major mistake.

The 'Revamping' should be based solely on making the experience for the visitors as enjoyable as possible, while doing everything possible to facilitate all the needs of the people coming to see AND SPEND THEIR MONEY IN WEHO!

The layout shoud be made as uncomplicated as possible, have designated zones with clear color coding and maps of the whole event readily avable and easy to read ... Like a super basic SHOPPONG MALL MAP and include ample bathrooms and make sure there is nothing that woukf obstruct the natural flow of the crowd.

yawn

I'm for making our pride festival the best it can be. I think it's a good approach to explore what can be improved. Thank God someone on city council is looking to make things better versus continuing to flood the city with mega box stores with condos on top.

On a more serious issue - there is major crowd control issues with any event with the number of people coming and staying to attend a long day. That is a professional expertise that should be fully brought in before people start throwing out ideas.

For example, the natural flow in and around the old park, the booths of merchandise and food stalls worked (well, I often tripped on the street curb maneuvering around the groups of drunk people).

The new park has no access in or out at the South side other than the dangerous on a good day 'grand stair case'. Again the flow of people to prevent a panic and possible serious crushing of people needs to be addressed before the Party Planning Starts.

Likewise, the idiotic decision to put the tennis courts on top of the Parking Garage (with plans to use it for events such as pride) is just stupid. The flow into/out of the garage via the elevated narrow path makes use impractical.

However, The Structural Load of People (large numbers crowed on to of the Parking Structure, dancing to a rhythm, is far greater than cars parked - and the roof top was not engineered even for that load.

Sounds crazy - but recall the rededication of the Golden Gate Bridge. The first day was just for pedestrians, and their weight (no cars) was too much for the bridge design, and there was a possibility of damage or worse. No 'marching troop' on bridges has been known since the Civil war. Serious issues first, for safety.