Puerto Rican Day Parade Pride

You mean to tell me that the Mayor isn't Hispanic!?!?! OMG! Next you're going to tell me that Freddy Ferrer isn't Jewish.

I am all about the celebration of our various heritages and cultures, especially when there are so many in such a small space here in N.Y. What I am not all about is the non-stop, and in this one person’s opinion, over-partying, with respect to Puerto Rico Day. I spent the majority of my time this weekend at my girlfriends place in Williamsburg, or Little San Juan, as I have re-named this specific 6-block area.

To make a long story short, in honor of their big day and parade, the residents of the neighborhood (starting on Friday night right up through 11pm last night) proceed to sit out side on the streets and blast, and I mean BLAST their car radios, dance, and make an obscene amount of noise through all hours of the day and night. One of the most annoying parts of the weekend was the fact that some drivers like to spin their wheels, kick up smoke, and screech down the street at a deafening volume until they get bored…or need new tires. You may be thinking, oh just tough it out it was one weekend. Well no, its actually every freakin’ weekend and I feel there is nothing I can do to alleviate this pain in my ears.

Call 311? HAHA, yeah right, like they have done a single thing. Try calling the actual police station (non-emergency line)? I finally did that and I got a smart-assed operator saying, “oh don’t worry, we have SPECIAL units for noise complaints,” and kind of laughed—never sending the car she claimed she would. This is turning into an “ask gothamist” and its loyal readers type of thing, but what can one person do? Do I need to resort to egging and putting shaving cream on their cars? Or is there an actual viable solution to what are turning into very, very non-relaxing weekends in San Juan, I mean Williamsburg.

Is everyone here prejudiced?

Special thanks to Jen Chung for sensationalizing the bad apples in the PR parade and making 3/4 of the blog entry about police arrests and groping. You're only fueling the hatred. This is evidenced by some of the commenters (LSJ and Will for example). I don't mean any disrespect, but this is not a good thing.

Another special thanks to LSJ for dubbing W'burg "Little San Juan." Not quite; ever been to San Juan? I was born there. Williamsburg (or New York for that matter) is not the same. In San Juan, Puerto Ricans span a full spectrum of classes, people and cultures. Your narrow perception is wrong. And there was a reason why the police was sarcastic to you. Noise is not caused by Puerto Ricans. Noise is caused by noisy people.

And honorable mention to Will, who suggests that "our PR 'friends' should celebrate back in Puerto Rico next year." You've already disrespected Puerto Ricans.

I can take a joke along with anybody else, but this is really pushing it. Is my ethnicity unwelcome? Should I move? What century is this?

You fuckin' racist carpetbaggers can go back to Ohio if you don't like it. You're the real problem and ruining the quality of life in NYC with your bland culturless, vapid & elitist attitudes.

I am a Puerto Rican and I own no guns. I am a Puerto Rican and I don't drink on the street. And I am a Puerto Rican and I am not a rapist.

I act civilized. Your racism and prejudice is what's uncivilized.

for what it's worth in this discussion, the event across from mccarran park seemed very fun and peaceful. sure, there was loud-ish music, but it's a celebration.

and yes, i didn't have people peeing on my door or someone outside blasting their radio at night, so it's a different perspective.

why is that we never have this kind of problems with other celebrations ?

Why we need metal fences, police escorts for women and children and massive police presence only when puerto ricans are celebrating?

Honestly, I have no idea. Maybe victimes have learned their lessons. Women do not go out in Puerto Rican day (at least to Central Park), shops are closed and buildings erect metal fences.
Red Headed Puerto Rican: Maybe you can explain this.

LSJ: Yes, noisy neighbors are bad.

Peter: These things did happen during other celebrations. (St Patricks Day anyone?)

The massive police presence is due to hysteria towards Puerto Ricans as a group.

This hysteria is analagous to the massive police presence at the RNC, because according to many, most bicyclists and protesters are anarchists who are surely going to vandalize, fight the police and burn things down. I am smart enough to figure out this is not true, and I figured out that the police presence at the RNC was an overreaction. I guess you aren't smart enough to figure this out in regards to the Puerto Rican day parade.

Let's just move all these parades over to the BQE and be done with it. It's not like traffic could get any worse.

Parades are for fascists.

Gee, If I were guessing from the hateful comments above I'd think this event happened in a small town in the mid-west, not the middle of NYC.

I attended the parade, and had a great time. It did not seem any crazier than say the Village Halloween parade, or Gay Pride.

If the city is sanatized only for the enjoyment of kid-toting types, or those intolerant of cultural celebrations (and the noise there of) then we may as well all pack up and head for the fly over states...

i've been trying to find a history or a story of crime related to the st. patrick's day parade in nyc, and have come up blank thus far. any links? (we did have a girl piss on the building of my place of work this past parade, but that was about it in terms of disruptions)

just curious if there's been a significant level of violence, which would strengthen the charges of bias.

Peter, I think because you called Puerto Ricans "locusts" make you a racist. Look in the mirror and proudly proclaim "I am a racist." I'd respect you more if you at least admitted it.

Red Headed Puerto Rican, IMO, don't waste your time.

Some "people" use race baiting phrases, pretend that they are NOT acting racist, pretend that Other Parades have no arrests, Imply that All of us Own Guns and are rapists, etc.

Oddly, being Puerto Rican, The only Puerto Rican's that I know that own guns are Police Officers. As for the "Rapist" Comment, Um, when did THAT happen? I somehow missed it among all the News coverage for Yesterday. Oooohhhh You mean 4 years ago! Gotcha.

Will, I'm sorry you and your child needed a Police Escort. Do you think that's common only to the PR Day parade?

Oh, And Peter? Would you act like this much of a Racist without the anonymity of the Internet? Say in "polite" Company? I have my doubts.

Loved the Rapist and Locust Comments.

RHPR, At this point, I think it's just feeding the Trolls.

Look at it all in perspective, there were tens of thousands of Puerto Ricans at the parade– this is one of the largest attended parades in the city (I would say it is the most attended, however I do not know that for fact). With that large of a crowd of course there are going to be some bad occurances.



Morever, I'm not even Puerto Rican (I'm mixed– which is a whole other story), and I was at the parade. It's not bad AT ALL. Most parades I've been to are boring, and you can't wait until they end. But this parade is not like that at all; I enjoyed being around the company of people who have so much pride in where they're from.



I think it's wrong to imply that whenever there are a bunch of Puerto Ricans, there's going to be trouble. You may be angry living in the neighborhood where there were Puerto Ricans celebrating from all the noise at night; however go up to the Bronx around Fordham University– on any given night during the semester drunk students will be vandalizing, urinitating on public property, making lots of noise, and things of that sort– I know this because I AM a Fordham student, and have seen it happen.



If every college/university in North America came together and decided to organize a huge parade on 5th avenue to celebrate something like Spring Weekend and it drew enormous amounts of people (comparable to the amount of people that come to the Puerto Rican day parade) lots of vandalism, drunken rowdiness etc would most likely occur.



It has nothing to do with nationality, if you have an insane amount of people coming together to celebrate something, especially something they are especially passionate or happy about, things are bound to happen.

NYC's greatest parade is coming up in 2 weeks...

http://www.forgotten-ny.com/mermaid2004/mermaid2004.html

RHPR, I urge you to read my post again, my intent was to highlight that there appears to be elements in the PR parade who seem intent on causing trouble. I know, I was in amongst it, and through no choice of my own, I was minding my own business, trying to get home. I was swept up in a large crowd, intent to on breaking through the police barriers to get on to the parade route. As I mentioned, I had my six month old son strapped to my chest, and was very concerned for his welfare. Thankfully I was helped through the barriers into a shaded area (for my son) until I was escorted over 5th ave. If you have ever been caught up in a mass crowd, with no ability to control the direction you travel in, you know how unpleasant this can be. Sunday's crowd was for the most part young males, thugs, as I will again define them, who seemed hell bent on causing trouble (this is from first hand experience of what I saw and heard). My point, is that there were clearly many like yourself enjoying a good day out, but there was definately an element looking for trouble, who do more damage, and by association bring disrespect to their fellow countrymen (and women), than a few boards and barriers. This thug element validates all the negativity the responsible people of PR try to discount.

I am a Puerto Rican born and raised in the island. I hate to break it to most of you here, but the situation is not that much better back home. Class, people. It's a matter of social class, which makes it rather complex.

I'll be the first one to admit I won't go close to the paraders, and if possible, will leave town. I live in Williamsburg, in the heart of the Puerto Rican community there. Fortunately, my particular street was rather quiet this weekend. Puerto Rican Day here is more of a source of shame than anything else for me. I have a hard time accepting as my brethren people whose behavior admitedly brings out the worst in Americans: tendencies to prejudice.

Back home I can see the same behavior throughout the year--political rallies, worker strikes, patron saint festivities, holidays...anything's an excuse to get loud and drunk. And eventually fight. Remember when the Navy finally left Vieques? Riots. I lived in PR for 18 years and couldn't stand it. That's why I won't live there and avoid "boricuas" here as much as I can. Am I prejudiced? You bet. I guess my experience has taught me to expect less of my own people.

However, I will also admit that not all Puerto Ricans are the same. And just because I don't enjoy their brand of "fun" doesn't mean they're less deserving of displaying their pride (ironically in a land most have never even visited!) than other groups in NYC. The thought of celebrating Colombus Day makes me livid, but I leave it to Italian Americans to reconcile that mess.

what do italians have to do with Columbus day??

Thanks, Kevin, for the Mermaid link!

Dave, the past several years at the Mermaid parade has also included celebration with intoxicants. This crowd is pretty well-behaved, and I greatly look forward to this year's.

Sars, I live on the upper east side, and made a point of leaving the area early to avoid what I knew would be a crowded environment. I spent the majority of my day on the west side, and at 4pm headed back home as it had been a long day for my son. As I have lived here for a while I made a point of crossing the parade at a place where I thought I would not encounter much in the way of crowds.

I am happy that the city hosts many diverse parades, what I am less than happy about is that some parades and the associated crowds make it difficult to navigate safely in ones home neighbourhood. Thanks so much for your very useful, capitalised advice, you're a pal.

I`m Puerto Rican, Born in the island & raised in New York City, And i (DON`T CARE for any F---ken parade) .