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Little to no changes one year after deadly Astroworld tragedy

Two task forces, dozens of lawsuits and nearly 365 days later, no real changes to ensure crowd safety at major events. Expert says it's unacceptable and dangerous.

HOUSTON — This Saturday marks one year since the Astroworld tragedy. Ten people including a 9-year-old boy died in a crowd surge during Travis Scott's concert. Hundreds more were injured. 

KHOU 11 News worked to find out what's changed in the last year. The answer is sadly little to nothing has changed and world-renowned crowd safety expert Paul Wertheimer says it's unacceptable and could easily happen again.

"Parents should be concerned and parents should be angry," said Wertheimer. 

Wertheimer is the founder of Crowd Management Strategies. He calls the local and state response to the Astroworld tragedy "absolutely the worst" he's seen in his career. 

Days after the tragedy, Governor Greg Abbott formed the Texas Task Force on Concert Safety. By April of this year, they'd released this 9-page report. 

Wertheimer says it's a failure with no specifics or timetables for changes. 

"A high school class in Texas could have done better, quicker and at less cost," said Wertheimer. "The task force didn't even address the main cause identified of this disaster and that's the crowd crush festival seating. You won't even find it in a word search in those pages."

RELATED: Texas Task Force on Concert Safety releases final report in wake of deadly Astroworld Festival

Wertheimer says the only way to prevent further tragedies is new tough legislation and criminal charges. 

But nearly one year since Houston Police Chief Troy Finner vowed to "learn lessons from this", no one's been charged. The Chief and his department only confirmed an investigation remains ongoing. 

As for the City-County Task Force on Special Events formed last February to improve how both Harris County and Houston handle major events like the Astroworld festival, there's been no plan announced to make changes. But Commissioner Adrian Garcia says it takes time. 

"I want to make sure whatever recommendations they come with are good solid recommendations that haven't been compromised by the need to announce something within a year," said Garcia. 

RELATED: Harris County fire marshal responds to Texas Concert Safety report related to Astroworld Festival

Wertheimer says it's taken far too long for the public to learn what's been done and what if anything will change at the local level to keep people safe. 

"They said this is a wake-up call, but every time the industry gets a wake-up call, they hit the snooze button," said Wertheimer. 

KHOU 11 News put in several requests to speak with officials about the City-County Force's work but no one was made available. KHOU 11 News learned the task force did meet last week and some type of announcement on what changes may be in store could come in the next few days.

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