NYC Puerto Rican Parade Controversy: An Update
The NiLP Network on Latino Issues (March 12, 2014)
Original Parade Board Members Resign
In a March 11th tweet, NY1 News Political Commentator Gerson Borrero reported being on the
Luis Francisco Ojeda radio show on Univision WKAQ-580AM in Puerto Rico yesterday to talk about developments with the National Puerto Rican Day Parade. He broke the news that on Monday night two of the original Parade Board members have just resigned less than a month after the new Board was reconstituted by order of NYS Attorney General
Eric Schneiderman. These are one of the Board Co-Vice Chairs,
Melissa Quesada, Special Associate at the NYC Law Department's Commercial and Real Estate Litigation Division, and Board Member
Trinidad Padilla. These are two of the three original members that were allowed to remain on the Board to provide continuity in the planning of this year's Parade. Well, so much for that plan.
Borrero also wondered about how ready the new Board was to pull off implementing the Parade this year. He pointed to the role of the new Board Chair, Lorraine Cortez-Vazquez, an executive with the AARP and former NYS
Secretary of State. He reported that he inquired with the AARP what role the company would be playing to support Cortez-Vazquez's efforts with the Parade, and it appears that they have not committed to anything, raising questions about whether or not they support her taking on the leadership of the Parade as she has done. Borrero asks, does or doesn't she bring in any funding to the Parade?
Para Que Lo Sepas
The NY Puerto Rican Parade is in Danger!
In the Monday, March 10th edition of Para Que Los Sepa (For the Record) by
Gerson Borrero, on NY1 Noticias, he talked about the growing doubts that the National Puerto Rican Day Parade will be able to be held at all this June 8th. He outlined the following reasons for this pessimism:
- The official Parade website (www.nationalpuertoricandayparade.org) seems to be permanently down, closing off communication to the community. It appears that the former President of the Parade, Madelyn Lugo, had been paying from her own pocket for the hosting and maintenance of the website, whose domain name is owned by a friend of hers. The current Parade Board Chair, Lorraine Cortés-Vázquez, never made arrangements to obtain the domain name and re-upload the site. Now they have to apply for and purchase a new domain name.
- Besides a news release the new Parade Board issued on February 25th announcing the new officers, no other communication with the media or the community has occurred since then about whatever progress they are making.
At this point, the Parade has no money in the bank.- They have yet to hire a business agent to handle sponsors, special events, fundraising, etc. They have interviewed three persons so far, but have not selected anyone, and with no money in the bank, it is not clear how they can.
- The Parade Board has still not decided who this year's honorees will be, although they have a list of nominees.
- The 150 or so Puerto Rican and other community groups that march in the Parade have not yet received any notification about registration deadlines and fee levels.
- A March 13th press conference for the Parade in Puerto Rico has been canceled. This is important because the 5,000 or so Parade participants from the Island, which includes the Mayors and other dignitaries, have to begin the process of applying and getting approval for travel and other expenses. This process is now seriously delayed.
Taken together, these developments, Borrero pointed out, indicate that the Parade is in danger. He points to NYS Attorney General
Eric Schneiderman's poor handling of the investigation into the Parade as having put this important event needlessly at risk.
There is also, apparently, a problem with the permit for the Parade pending approval from the city. It appears that former Parade President Ralph Morales has moved to incorporate a rival
Puerto Rican Heritage Parade that is also applying for the permit on the same day as the National Puerto Rican Day Parade! Just a little nostalgia from the old days of
Ramon Velez!
There are also questions about the leadership of the new Board Chair, Lorraine Cortés-Vázquez, and whether with her lack of transparency and blaming outside "naysayers" she is unnecessarily wasting the tremendous good will that exists in the Puerto Rican community with groups like
Boricuas for a Positive Image to make the Parade succeed. Is she in over her head or will she be able to pull this off? Will NYC Council Speaker
Melissa Mark-Viverito, who was the driving force behind the Attorney General's investigation, come to her and the Parade's rescue in time?
Stay tuned to The NiLP Network on Latino Issues for updates . . .
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If you have any information about the Parade, positive or negative, that should be widely known in the Latino community, please let us know at info@latinopolicy.org. Your name will be kept confidential if requested.