Local Authorities Tighten Security for Major L.A. and Long Beach Weekend Events
Several major events are hitting Los Angeles and Long Beach this weekend. After the tragedy at the Boston Marathon, local authorities are tightening security to make sure everyone feels safe.
The Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach is one of the city's most popular events, drawing crowds of almost 200,000. Spectators will fill the stands Friday to Sunday to watch cars speed down the tracks.
Randy Owens is a painter who specializes in race car drawings. He's been coming to the Long Beach Grand Prix from Maryland for 35 years to seel his paintings.
"This is one of our favorite stops of all the races we go to throughout the year and the attendance is very strong," Owens said. "When I go to the event, it's in good faith people will be safe and I think there's a lot of people who are looking out for my safety and so I have to do what I cand do."
With three high profile events taking place this weekend, security and safety is a big concern and local authorities said it's a shared responsibility with the public.
"We just want everyone to know that there will be some added security measure and we want everyone to be patient with those," Long Beach Police Department's Aaron Eaton said.
Tony Phelps works for Chubb Insurance and will be overseeing some aspects of security for the Grand Prix.
"I've met with police and security people here and it's increased substantially from prior years," Phelps said. "Normally, you don't see any policemen walking around, but you will see some."
At USC, the 18th Annual L.A. Times Festival of Books will attract nearly 150,000 attendees. It's the largest book festival in the country.
"We don't expect anything to happen, but you will see police officers around the campus just keeping an eye on thing," Los Angeles Police Department Andrew Smith said.
Ciclavia will draw thousands of bikers to the 15 mile route that stretches from Downtown L.A. to Venice Beach.
"At an event like Ciclavia, we'll have more officers out there in uniform with higher visibility of our officers.
Although the acts of terror in Boston have shaken the nation, Owens says he hopes people will still come out to enjoy the weekend.
"Our terror events are much more sparsely spread out they don't impact us physically as much mentally but we want to try to stand up and not be afraid to go out and do what we do," he said.
