Bowery Pavilions Amphitheater rental fees jump more than 300 percent

Renting the Bowery Pavilions Amphitheater at the Midvale City Park will come at a much higher cost this year.

Mayor JoAnn Seghini and the city council recently decided to raise rental fees for the Bowery from $45 to $150 for residents and $200 for non-residents.

Seghini defended the increase in rental fees and said the decision came after years of dealing with people not cleaning up the Bowery, located at 425 West 6th Ave.

“People would rent it and then not clean up after their party. If people put more money down and don’t clean it up, now we’ll have the money available in the general fund to clean it,” she said. “We tried to keep the price relatively low. When we’re not charging enough, we’re taking advantage of the taxpayers that would have to pay clean-up costs for those who aren’t being responsible.”

The city also looked into a deposit program where the Bowery would be inspected after each rental and a deposit would be either given back or, if the Bowery was not cleaned, kept. “We decided against a deposit program, because that’s a lot of work and expense to hold checks and cut them back after inspecting the Bowery,” Seghini said.

The city has had numerous complaints from residents who neighbor the park about the music coming from the Bowery being too loud and about people drinking and smoking in the park. These issues will be discussed with people as they come in to reserve the Bowery. People who fail to clean up after their party, along with violators of the noise and drug rules, will be banned from renting again.

The Bowery is reserved approximately 60 times a year. It is unclear whether that number will stay the same or drop with the increase in fees.