What looks like yet another request for a Hispanic festival on the Sept. 3 City Council agenda is actually for one that predates all the others.
Flor Gonzalez of the Latin American Coalition is asking council approval to close North Avenue between Park and Watchung avenues from 10:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Sept. 28 and 29 for a Hispanic Heritage Month Festival. By then, the city will have had four Hispanic festivals downtown, but as Gonzalez said at the Aug. 19 council meeting, hers will not include sales of alcohol.
Gonzalez said her organization has held Hispanic heritage festivals since 1995 and the were "never about selling liquor." Instead of displacing business as other festivals have been accused of doing, she said hers have always included businesses.
The current spate of weekend festivals has caused a backlash due to the noise of amplified music and the presence of beer tents in proximity to kiddie rides, as well as the sheer number of days on which city parking lots have been closed to shoppers. Nightclub owner Edison Garcia has been using Lots 8 and 8A for five years now for July 4th celebrations as well as Central American Independence in September. Rodney Maree, associated with another nightclub, received permission last year to use Lot 1 for a similar festival in September and this year for an additional event in August celebrating El Salvadoran heritage. Both parking lots are behind stores on East Front Street.
In the Plaintalker archives, which go back to 2005, there are several posts about past celebrations of Hispanic Heritage Month with festivals and other cultural events. See examples here and here.
Gonzalez was emotional, even distraught on Aug. 19 over the shift from purely cultural festivals to the new, more commercial ones that feature beer sales. She expressed concern that her group might not be able to hold its own, traditional festival for Hispanic Heritage Month.
The council will consider her request at a meeting 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in Municipal Court.
--Bernice
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Bernice: doesn't the City have some kind of official (semi-official?) Latino affairs committee? Although I think I've read the Mayor didn't appoint members or something else typical, Maybe they could advise the next Mayor and Council on these festivals.
ReplyDeleteUHMMMMMM TRAIN STATION CAN"T BLOCK ACCESS
ReplyDeleteThe city should stop approving street encroachments and the use of public parking lots for any commercial ventures.
ReplyDeleteThey should all work together and have 1 festival period this is rediculous already. Before you know it every nationality if going to want a festival
ReplyDelete