Photo by jessebean

Fiesta D.C., the city’s annual Latino parade and street festival, is just over two months away, but organizers still haven’t found a new location for the festivities that in recent years called Mt. Pleasant home. A number of alternative sites have been proposed, but city officials have rejected some while festival organizers have remained skeptical of others.

In recent months festival organizers have met with city officials to plan this year’s parade and street festival, now in its 41st year. And while both sides have agreed that Fiesta D.C. had grown to large for Mt. Pleasant—organizers estimated some 90,000 people descended on the neighborhood last year, causing traffic tie-ups and massive amounts of trash—they’ve differed on where it could move next.

In April, organizers proposed moving the festival to a stretch of 14th Street between Meridian Place and Randolph Road NW. But much like a similar proposal in 2009, city emergency officials rejected it out of hand because of the impact it would have on a fire station located at the corner of 14th and Newton Streets.

The next month, city officials came back with two alternatives: the grounds of RFK Stadium or a stretch of Pennsylvania Avenue. Despite Fiesta D.C. having taken place along Pennsylvania Avenue and on the grounds of the Washington Monument in the mid-1990s, festival organizers rejected the two options, saying that they were concerned with the impact that moving the celebrations away from the city’s historically Latino neighborhoods would have.

In June, festival organizers floated another idea: keeping vendors in Mt. Pleasant but closing down 16th Street from Spring Road to Columbia Road NW for the parade. D.C. Fire and EMS Chief Kenneth Ellerbe rejected the idea, writing that it would have too large an impact on traffic. (He estimated that some 18,500 cars would have to be diverted to narrower side streets.)

In a letter sent to organizers late last week, Deputy Mayor for Public Safety and Justice Paul Quander proposed yet more alternative sites for the festivities, including Arkansas Avenue between 13th and 14th Streets NW, Georgia Avenue between Harvard Street and Barry Place, or the grounds and athletic fields behind the old headquarters of the D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation between 16th Street and Hiatt Place. (Hiatt Place connects Irving Street to Park Road and serves as an access point to the DCUSA parking lot.)

For the city, Hiatt Place could prove to be a winner—Ellerbe endorsed the location, saying it would provide the most space for the festival and the least-noticeable impact on traffic and emergency service. Under his plan, the parade would head down Mt. Pleasant Street from Irving to Lamont, where it would proceed west across 16th Street and end on the ground behind the old DPR headquarters, where food vendors and performers could set up shop.

But organizers aren’t so convinced. Maria Patricia Corrales, president of Fiesta D.C., said that while no final decision had been made on the offer, she was concerned that the Hiatt Place site would limit the size of the festival. “Some options are making it a smaller event. A smaller event won’t work,” she said.

In an email, Councilmember Jim Graham (D-Ward 1), who has wanted to keep the parade and festival as close to Mt. Pleasant as possible, said he was considering the option. In the past, he has said that whatever happens, he wants to ensure that D.C. doesn’t lose Fiesta D.C. the way it lost the Caribbean Parade and Festival, which moved from Georgia Avenue to Baltimore after city officials refused to grant organizers permits this year. (They said that the organizers still owed D.C. some $200,000 from the last two years.)

Corrales said an emergency meeting will be held this evening to discuss the options presented by Quander.