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The discussions are expected to inform a Festival Safety Summit on May 26, where the city and organizers will look at “potential future enhancements,” McQuillan added. Both meetings were scheduled before Vancouver’s Filipino street festival tragedy.

On Saturday night, the driver of an SUV plowed through crowds at the Lapu-Lapu Day Block Party in southeast Vancouver, killing at least 11 people and injuring more than two dozen.ÌýLocal resident Kai-Ji Adam Lo has been charged with multiple counts of murder. Vancouver’s mayor has ordered a review of the city’s event-safety measures.

º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøcurrently doesn’t require what it calls ”” measures, such as using concrete blocks and garbage trucks or TTC buses as barricades for every large event — unless the police or city think it’s necessary, such as when massive crowds gathered to watch Taylor Swift at the Rogers Centre.

To get a permit, festival organizers are required to have marshals and/or private security at all road closure spots without a traffic signal. They also have to submit a traffic-management plan that includes “interlocking, free-standing barricades” at all road closure points, like the barred metal fences typically seen at street festivals.

Tasneem Bandukwala, executive director of Toronto’s Gerrard India Bazaar Business Improvement Area and the TD Festival of South Asia which is planned for July 19 to 20, said she’s concerned whether a similar attack may happen in º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍø— given the city’s own tragic van attack in 2018.

But she’s also worried the municipality will stipulate that the BIAs need to ramp up their security plans and bear most of the costs.

Bandukwala said a couple years ago the local 55 division pulled its command post — typically a police truck serving as a central hub with multiple officers ready to respond — after years of setting it up at the annual festival on Gerrard Street East. She said the º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøPolice Service told her they had “very limited resources” at the time. (City council has approved consecutive police budget increases in recent years.)

“With this incident, I would just really love for (police) to bring back their command post,” she said, noting the city already approved the festival’s security plans before the Vancouver attack. “If there are just two officers walking around, what can they really do?”

Now, Bandukwala said her organization pays as much as $15,000 for private security, compared to the few thousand when they had the police’s help.

“We can barely pay for our artists,” she said. “So there is really no (extra) funding.”

Soaring costs in recent years — including security costs — have forced other º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøfestivals to pull the plug, including Taste of the Danforth last year.

While º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøpolice did not confirm whether it plans to increase its presence at any festivals, spokesperson Stephanie Sayer said Monday it’s a conversation they will have with the city and organizers.

“Whenever a serious incident occurs — whether here or elsewhere — we take the opportunity to review our practices, reassess risks, and make adjustments as needed,” she said.

Darren Christopher, director of the BIG on Bloor Festival planned for July 19 to 20 on Bloor Street West, said some committee members have similar safety and financial worries given it costs as much as $50,000 to put on this festival. Those costs are a roughly 20 per cent increase from before the pandemic, he added.

“We would love to see the city respond to having (more) bollards installed,” he said, referring to more permanent solutions. “And provide emergency ambulances on site at the festival.” 

While he said he’s not supportive of an increased police presence because it might raise false perceptions of danger or deter racialized festival goers from attending, “even having unmarked larger vehicles to act as deterrents — I don’t understand why that isn’t more common practice.”

For Christopher, who also handles operations for Little Portugal’s Do West Fest planned for June 6 to 8, he would like the city to be more proactive than reactive when it comes to street infrastructure.Ìý

º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøCaribbean Carnival, which kicks off on June 14, spends about $200,000 on private security just for the grand parade and upwards of $20,000 for each smaller event, said general manager Adrian Charles.

While their security council is still finalizing its safety plans, “this is probably one of the best we’ve put together,” Charles said, noting they are planning within their budget.

Mischka Crichton, CEO of Caribbean Carnival’s management committee, said security costs are not something they would sacrifice, although it is a growing expense.

“World-class festivals like ours need strong, consistent support from all levels of government to keep them that way,” said Crichton. “Without sustainable funding, festivals like ours are forced to make incredibly tough decisions (like) scaling back events.”