Plaintalker recently reported on Edison Garcia's two requests for council approval, one for a July weekend celebration of U.S.independence and another to celebrate Central American independence in September.
It turns out that once again Rodney Maree applied first for the September dates, so on May 13 Garcia got only the July approvals. See original post here. A resolution on Maree's request is expected in June.
I'm told Garcia will have to choose alternate dates in September, as city officials found two major events on the same day a bit much.
Last year, the dual event drew interest from politicians (click here to see post). Two separate events in September will probably prove just as enticing to campaigners as well as those just out to celebrate their heritage.
--Bernice
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Bernice,
ReplyDeleteI voted against a waiver of the fees for this profit-making event. We raised the fees so that the city would not be on the hook for lost revenue.
Our local businesses lose revenue as well when our municipal lots are closed and the streets are blocked with traffic. When we immediately waive fees for one profit-making venture, how then can we, with any degree of integrity, not waive them for the next person who comes along? And the next? In addition, this is a THREE-day event; so, we are losing the use of our lot for that length of time. I think 3 days is excessive for a profit-based event in a city of our size.
I would rather have granted Mr. Garcia a permit for a TWO-day event, and perhaps a modest break on the fees--perhaps a 10% discount as a gesture of support. Instead, we are set to lose $5,000 in revenue. I hope that the city council will keep this in mind when we complete the budget process and look at how we raise revenue.
All that said, I hope the event is successful and pleasant. In addition, the entire city council was assured by Dir. Hellwig that the music will be shut off at 9:00 pm, per our noise ordinance--this ordinance is consistently ignored (at most events, frankly), but the police director has confirmed that he will enforce it.
Finally, Mr. Garcia's divisive, contemptible, and ethnicity-baiting commentary was also extremely offensive to me. That attitude is not conducive to bringing Plainfielders together, and I don't relish the idea that future event planners will use ethnicity to claim that the city council is being unfair. This is a treacherous road.
Rebecca