Carnival Cuts Create Questions

Nerissa George usually gets up at 6 a.m. on Labor Day to give herself enough time to get into her costume and head out onto Eastern Parkway for the West Indian-American Day Carnival. This year, however, she can sleep in an extra hour because of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s new five-hour limit on parades and street fairs. The carnival now begins at 11 a.m. instead of its former 10 a.m. start.

“I’m still going to participate but this really sucks,” said Nerissa George, 17, who has participated in the carnival for six years.

In an effort to save $3.1 million in police pay, Mayor Bloomberg announced that he would limit the amount of time used for public celebrations or cultural events such as the West Indian American Day Carnival, which will be reduced by three hours.

The West Indian-American Day Carnival is a Caribbean-style celebration designed to mirror those in Trinidad, Grenada, Barbados and other West Indian islands, where the carnivals are the biggest cultural events of the year. The entire country comes to a halt for a few days in order to celebrate and palance, a word used by Trinidadians to reflect a sense of enjoyment, fun and partying.

“There is unity and we come together as one and celebrate who we are,” said Bria Murray, 16-year old participant in the carnival. The celebration on Eastern Parkway acts as the closing ceremony to the summer season to many West Indians that live in New York City.

According to some the event doesn’t even fit into the Mayor’s policy. “This is not a parade, it is a carnival,” said Joseph Charles, founder of Sesame Flyers, whose 1,500 member band is the largest participant in the festivities

Others note that the city is actually losing money by shortening the time and route of the parade.

“You cannot save money by cutting down time,” said Marlon Smart, costume designer for the carnival bands Sesame Flyers and Ramajay. As the city’s largest street celebration, it generates $24 million in tax revenue annually, according the West Indian American Day Carnival Association officials. That is eight times the amount that the government is trying to save. “The cut down means less revenue for the city,” said Smart.

Blogger for popular cultural blog When Steel Talks said, “The economics work in favor of the city. The city will invest less in terms of police and other utility support and yet reap the same economic benefits. For example, the MTA is going to make the same amount of money regardless f the time factor. They typically run a rush hour schedule on the number 4 and 3 lines for the duration of the carnival on labor day.”

People that attend the parade and participate in it blame bandleaders for not being on time. This is a complaint of many participants: masqueraders spend a lot of time waiting for costume bands to move along the parade route. Costume bands and bandleaders make the carnival exciting for viewers; therefore if they are late the entire parade is delayed.

“Then they begin turning bands off the parade route because they are so late,” said Blake.

“Last year, three hours were wasted,” said George, 17-year-old participant in the parade.

Smart, the costume designer, said that as long as the fun factor is there people would still have a good experience despite the time restrictions.