Prov. Police Union Slams City on Continuing to Issue Unpaid Festival Permits
Wednesday, May 06, 2015
The Providence Police Union is questioning why the City of Providence is continuing to issue permits to festivals that owe outstanding police detail, in violation of the city's ordinance that festivals must be current and in good standing to receive a new permit.
The Providence Fraternal Order of Police has asked how the Puerto Rican Cultural Festival and Parade Organization -- which owes tens of thousands of dollars in past detail costs -- was issued a permit by the city for an auto festival last weekend.
See Most Recent Aging Report HERE
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST"They didn't get it through normal channels," said FOP president Taft Manzotti. "Cultural Affairs ultimately gave them the permit for [and event] city property. It was the first annual car show at Sanchez High School."
In 2013, the Puerto Rican Festival had entered into an agreement with the city to pay off a past debt at the time of $34,090, which would have been satisfied in full by its terms of agreement by 2014 -- and required the festival to pay in full, and advance, for any new detail.
"The Board of Licenses decided to issue the permit for last weekend’s car show, which was a fundraiser to raise necessary funds to pay for police details," said Evan England
Manzotti questioned why the invitation said the event it was a "police fundraiser."
"Is it to pay [the detail owed] back? If it says police 'fundraiser,' that's misleading," said Manzotti. "The proceeds didn't go to benefit us. My guys have already been paid for the detail. It's the taxpayers that have been on the hook for that debt, not us. The city had entered into a number of agreements, with the Dominican and Puerto Rican festivals, that stipulated that If they're not paid in a certain amount of time, those were supposed to be null and void -- and needed to be paid in full."
The Festival said on Tuesday that it had no comment, but would be issuing a press statement later in the week
Looking at Big Picture
In total, a recent aging report by the city of all entities -- festivals and parades as well as businesses reported that nearly $1.3 million is owed in back taxes.
Of that, nearly $150,00 is for past due detail costs for festivals and parades.
Last year, that number had ballooned to nearly two million, but the current number is back at 2013 levels -- and the City Council is looking to address the continuing issue in a comprehensive manner, and discussing the matter this coming meeting on Thursday.
"There's really two pieces that need to be addressed -- how do we deal with the 120 days owed? That's the biggest piece," said City Council President Luis Aponte. ""Either through immediate payment or payments and a plan, we need to tackle this."
"And then just as important, how do we address this in a way that's not a recurring problem? We need a centralized point from which the info gets dispersed," continued Aponte. "The groups that owe, and interface with the city, fall into three groups -- the nightclubs and cultural festivals who get permits and detail through the Board of Licenses, the second big chunk goes to the building department to break ground, foundations. Then there are the utilities, who go to the DPW, highway departments."
"So you have three groups that seldom talk to each other, and are not consistently aware who owes what," continued Aponte. "The ones that we have some trouble figuring out are the cultural festivals that happen once a year, and some have accumulated substantial debt over a long period a time...we have to figure out how to deal with that. These are cultural additions to our city -- they provide recreational opportunities, and bring people in"
The city's longest serving Council Member, Kevin Jackson, said he believed the way to handle the issue was to start with a clean slate.
"You have to be realistic, but I don't think anyone believes we going to be able to about collecting all this back money all of sudden, after we've gotten to this point," said Jackson.
"This list has shrunk and grown again," said Jackson. "We nee to stop the growth, take the cancer out, but never let the cancer come back. Wipe the slate clean, and then make everyone pay for detail costs up front. It's as simple as that. It's something that I'm going to bring up, and I know I'll be getting push back on that. But look -- there are many groups that put on [festivals] and they pay -- they're not on that list. Why do they get treated differently?"
"We're not trying to stop things, but it comes to the point where you just can't get free things from the city," said Jackson. "I've been around long enough to know how we go to this point."
Moving Forward
Both Aponte -- and Taft -- expressed reservations about the "fresh start" approach suggested by Jackson.
"I'm not prepared to surrender what's owed, but as the city we have to accept responsibility we let them go to that point," said Aponte of letting the organizations accrue debt -- and continue to get new detail permits. "If they've been able to continue like this, then shame on us."
"I don't like it," said Manzotti of Jackson's proposal. "My guys have been paid, so again, this is the taxpayers' money -- but the city keeps coming back to the officers time and time again. Look, you have a million or so to collect...if you get a half million, that's better than nothing."
The Mayor's office said they were currently looking at how to handle the debt
"The Mayor is working with the Council to propose an amendment to the ordinance that will allow for necessary administrative flexibility so that the City may consider extenuating factors and circumstances for certain organizations," said England.
Related Slideshow: 10 Questions Elorza Has to Answer as Mayor
Related Articles
- Providence Hit with $1.3M in Unpaid Police Details
- Taveras Police Detail Costs Providence $500k
- LISTEN: Unpaid Providence Police Detail Up 50% to Nearly $2 Million
- Organizations Past Due on Police Detail: See Who Owes the Most
- Providence Police Union Slams Taveras on Unpaid Festival Police Details
- Unpaid Providence Police Detail Up 50% to Nearly $2 Million
- LISTEN: Providence Police Union Slams Taveras on Unpaid Festival Police Details
- Providence Police Union—Hispanic Festivals Leading to ‘Anarchy’ on City Streets
