LOS ANGELES – Danny Bakewell, the powerful newspaper publishing magnate behind the Los Angeles Sentinel, has somehow managed to finagle control of a crucial City permit to hold the annual Kingdom Day parade instead of Dr. Adrian Dove and the Congress of Racial Equality of California (CORE).
The seven-member LAPD Permit Review Panel voted 4-1 on September 22 to uphold the denial of Dr. Dove’s parade permit. Dove has been associated with the parade for over two decades.
The September 22 special meeting was held because Dr. Dove appealed the denial.
The panel members are: Charley Mims, Chairperson, Ryan Duckett, Vice Chair, Joella Hopkins, Maruf Islam, Gregory Lippe and Bianca Nepales.
According to public information director Sarah Bell, “The question for the Panel was whether the denial of the permit conformed with the Los Angeles Municipal Code. At no time was the Panel hearing a reversal and the appeal would not change the awarding of the permit to the other applicant.”
Dr. Dove spoke with Stephen Oduntan, with the Los Angeles Wave newspaper, telling him that he believed Los Angeles City Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson was behind his denial and that he has “long sought to push him aside.”
Back around 2012, he told me I was too old to be doing this,” Dove said. “I was in my 70s then. Now I’m 90, and I’m still here.” He added that the council member’s “fingerprints are all over” the commission’s handling of the case.
They told me I was too early, then went ahead and issued the permit. Then they rescinded it and gave it to Danny Bakewell [Bakewell Media] because he signed in hours before me the second time. What’s the solution to being too early? You sit on it until the date is right. Instead, they processed it, issued it, and then took it back.
This is not the first time Harris-Dawson has been cloaked in controversy over permitting issues that resulted in folks getting to the head of the line over others.
In 2019, Harris-Dawson, who was involved in the city’s cannabis Social Equity Program, faced a major controversy when some applicants were found to have been able to start their applications before the official opening time. This allowed them to gain an unfair advantage in the first-come, first-served licensing process.
According to the LAPD Permit Panel agenda, the only agenda item was the appeal of the permit. It was not made clear in other media reports who voted against Dr. Dove.
Multiple Black-owned news outlets have attempted to get comment from both Bakewell and Harris-Dawson and were unsuccessful.