The city of Rochester has given businesses on North Clinton Avenue an offer: Close by 4 p.m. this Saturday during the Puerto Rican Festival, or else.
This is the second year the city has made such a demand. But this year it's drawing pushback.
"The Puerto Rican festival has historically been our busiest weekend of the summer for many years now," said Alejandra Brown, part-owner of El Pilón Criollo, a Puerto Rican restaurant on the avenue. "And it's kind of unfortunate that we haven't even been part of this conversation.
"It's unfortunate," she continued, "that something that’s supposed to bring attention and light to our community hurts some of the people in it."
In a letter distributed to businesses along the avenue Monday morning, the city’s top lawyer Patrick Beath urged businesses to “partner” with the city and comply with the request. If businesses don’t, the letter advised, the city can use its powers under its ongoing gun violence state of emergency. Those powers have been used in the past to close businesses thought to be catalysts for violent crime, including unlicensed night clubs.
“Such a closure order comes with the force of law, and violation of such a closure order is a Class B misdemeanor,” Beath wrote. “It is the city’s hope that it will not need to issue any closure orders or make any arrests for the violation of any closure order.”
The directive, Beath explained in the letter, is an attempt to help the Rochester Police Department keep order on the avenue. That comes after a spate of drug busts and homeless camp clearings in the area over the past week.
While the Puerto Rican Festival is held at Parcel 5 downtown, North Clinton is the unofficial hub, and typically plays host to an unofficial post-festival parade and street party.
Ray Martinez is co-owner of Sobrinos, a Puerto Rican restaurant at North Clinton and Norton Street. He said the letter came as a shock.
“I feel like we're living in a communist area, like communist Russia or China, where it says, if we don't, how’d they say it? ‘Partner up’ with you guys, we’re gonna go to jail,” Martinez said. “So join us, or the hammer’s coming down. Where’s our freedom of choice?”
Martinez said his restaurant closes at 7 p.m. on Saturday. Even if he were to stay open later, its location is significantly north of the hub of action on the festival day.
“You shouldn’t be giving us an ultimatum on my property and my things when it doesn’t really have anything to do with what’s going on,” Martinez said.
Albert Algarin is president of the North Clinton Avenue Business Association. He said that in the 20 years he’s worked on the avenue, he has never seen such a strongly worded letter from city government.
The association would have been willing to work with City Hall to ensure the safety of the neighborhood, he said. Being blindsided with an ultimatum, Algarin said, felt like racial bias.
“He doesn’t do it at the Park Avenue Festival, and they have problems too, he doesn’t do it at St. Patrick’s Day, and they have problems too,” Algarin said. “So why do we get the harsh treatment.”
The Park Avenue Festival has not been held in its traditional form since 2019.
Algarin said the previous year's letter lacked the strong legal language used in the letter this year. However, the 2024 letter, provided by the city, is identical to the one issued this year.
In a statement, issued Tuesday, Mayor Malik Evans stood by the directive as crucial to ensuring public safety.
"The Puerto Rican Festival is a safe and family-friendly event that occurs far from North Clinton Avenue. But historically, a large number of people gather along that corridor after the festival closes, and in previous years, assaults, stabbings, and even a mass shooting have occurred," the letter reads. "Since the city has initiated this and other safety measures, violence during this weekend has significantly decreased."
Some of the North Clinton businesses are not planning on closing, Algarin said — adding that, if they choose not to, he’ll stand beside them.
“As the president, I have to stand up and fight for them,” Algarin said. “I left the house this morning, and I told my wife, 'If it comes to the point that they are they going to arrest any of my merchants, get ready, because I'm going to get arrested, too.'”
