Mount Pleasant DC Forum

[lmikesDC]

Given the unholy mess that this was last year, is there anything that can be done proactively to assure that proper permits, proper gathering of neighbor's approvals along the parade route, traffic plans, etc, etc. are provided/obtained?

In looking at the festival's website ( http://www.fiestadc.org/en/sendaplicacion.php ), the Fiesta folks apparently already have a date, time and parade route picked out, and are currently looking for merchants to purchase booth space:

"APLICACIÓN DE GRUPOS FOLCLORICOS A PARTICIPAR EN EL DESFILE DE LAS NACIONES
(APPLICATION FOR GROUPS TO PARTICIPATE IN THE PARADE OF NATIONS)
Fiesta DC 2012 - Festival Latino de Washington DC 2012
Domingo, 30 de septiembre de 2012 - MT. PLEASANT ST
(Sunday, September 30, 2012 – MT. PLEASANT ST)
Horario del Desfile: 2:00 a 4:00 p.m.
(Parade Schedule: 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.)"

[jack]

[micmac]

Fiesta DC has become an event for people from the suburbs to drive into town and try to park their SUVs and minivans on our residential streets. If the organizers have not gotten the message that is not feasible they should find somewhere else for their event. Not to mention the littering & public urination issues.

[Mary Anne Grace- Rivera]

We as a community should come together and make the Fiesta an enjoyable and historic event. all [color=red]the negitivity will get us no where. I have read many comments about genterfication and latinos being moved out of ward 1. As well the aragont comments of the latino population is growing due to an increase of birthrates. Stop discriminating ! Latinos are not going anywhere. Many latinos are lawyers, doctors, teachers and community leaders.j You have no problem with cleaning your homes, hotels, schools or streets. Get over it., genterfication or not, latinos are not going anyfurther then you are!!!!

Not every event is perfect and there are always obsticles. many have negitive comments but I am sure each of you go and eat the wonderful or your kids got to the kids ctivities that are at the Fiesta!!

Jim Graham can only do but so much, he is supporting what he feels is right and whats best for the community. if you saw people selling alcohol at the festival then you should have alerted police and not wait until after the fact. This blog is full of a bunch of ignorant and racist residents that care only about themselves and not the community. I can tell you I am signing out of Mt. pleasant Blog and let you all cyber talk. I am sorry you have nothing better to do with your time.

I will make sure to support the festival and make sure it goes on in Columbia Heights. If you dont like it then stay home or go away for the day.

Yes I am a resident of Columbia Heights !! fot more then 20 years!! my husband is Latino . Are you going to try and kick us out of our own neighborhood?[/quote]

[ilana-mtp]

Calm down Mary Anne.
I too have lived in this neighborhood (read Mt Pleasant and not Columbia Heights) for a long time and I also have the right to point at the problems of the "fiesta" without being insulted by someone outside the neighborhood. I fail to see the racism in saying that the fiesta has for the past 3 or 4 years, ignored the residents and became a huge inconvenience for us.

So by all means, please, please have our fiesta if you like it so much. I'll suggest you ask your ANC to lobby for the fiesta on 14th street. You want it, you can have it. Really.

[Jennrgolden]

I have to pitch in and agree that I saw nothing in the comments posted that were racist. As a community, meaning regardless of ethnicity, we have a right to defend our neighborhood from abuse. To have public drunkeness to the point of people passing out on our lawns and front steps and urinating on them is an absolute justified complaint! No one deservs that! I can not have my 3 year old and 5 year old walking out of our house to find a man peeing on our steps! Unacceptable! What's more, even if I didn't have small children, it still unacceptable!

If anything your reaction was racist; in that you assumed the posters were stating an ethicity in connection to the offenders, which they did not, they just stated that this Fiesta-DC event brings about all of these offenses.

I'll add my own complaint that the side-swiping of cars parked on our streets is a real issue as well. I can handle being barracaded in my neighborhood for a day with little to no hope of getting out with my vehicle and returning to an illegal parking spot (this happened to us last year) a 10 minute walk away! We had been out of town last year and returned unaware the event was happening; we had luggage for 2 adults and 2 small children and walked from Klingle/Park road to our home at 17th & Newton..THAT was not fun...but I'm willing to deal with that.

-Immense trash.
-Side-swiping/hitting my car and driving off.
-Urinating in front lawns.

These are things I will not tolerate from ANYONE no matter their ethnic orientation!

[jack]

That illustrates clearly why I cannot support Fiesta DC in Mount Pleasant this year. I've long been a strong supporter of that event, but the punishment inflicted on the neighborhood last year by the event was intolerable.

BTW, my wife, formerly executive vice president of the National Council of La Raza, had one thing to say about the Fiesta last year: "I hate the Fiesta!" This was after being caught in the traffic jam around Newton Street, aggravated by wide Fiesta vendor trucks parked on the 1700 block, obstructing the flow of traffic forced there by the closure of Park Road.

In short, people who are longstanding supporters of Latino immigrants and Latino culture, object to the Fiesta. It's about poor management of a large event in a neighborhood incapable of supporting such a large event. Not ethnic bias against Latinos. Just well-founded objections to this event, here in Mount Pleasant.

-- Jack

[lmikesDC]

Ms. Grace- Rivera,

I'm not sure where the race issue came from either, if that's what you took from my initial post, it's certainly not what was intended....

I'll go back to my original statement:

[jack]

[lmikesDC]

[jack]

[jack]

Residents unhappy about the possibility of Fiesta DC here in Mount Pleasant this coming September should communicate their sentiments to Councilmember Graham. He's an advocate of having the Fiesta here, worrying that moving it to another location would kill the event. -- Jack