City Officials Plan For a Calmer, More Controlled Puerto Rican Day This Year
By Paul Kurtz
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The Philadelphia Puerto Rican Day is coming up at the end of the month, and the Nutter administration is offering an alternative to the raucous and sometimes violent post-parade neighborhood celebrations of last year.
Mayor Nutter says the first annual Boricua Fest, being put together with the help of community leaders, will feature live music and DJs.
"It will take place after the parade on Sunday, September the 29th, from 5 to 9pm at the Dell East Music Center," the mayor said today.
City officials are apparently hoping to steer a lot of post-parade traffic away from the section of North Philadelphia where the party sometimes veers out of control.
Last year a video went viral showing Philadelphia police lieutenant Jonathan Josey knocking a female reveler to the ground (see related stories).
Commissioner Charles Ramsey (at lectern in photo) says this year's police presence will again be formidable, and will feature another layer of supervision.
"Obviously addressing the issues of last year, we decided we're going to more commanders on location in those areas, so we have a higher level of supervision and a higher level of accountability as to the activities that occur," Ramsey said today.
