The Daily Newarker

Star Ledger: Newark redefines its policies for huge Portuguese festival. The Ledger details some of the changes we reported earlier in their financial support of the Portugal Day festival. From a fiscal responsibility perspective, this just makes sense: the festival should be self-sustaining. Despite financial troubles—every year is the “last year” they do the festival—this event draws enough people that it should be profitable without burdening the city budget.

“Truth be told, the festival has not been very helpful to the business community. Businesses tend to lose money on that weekend,” said Ironbound Business Improvement District executive director Seth Grossman. “If they’re losing business, the city is losing.”

To help resolve the various problems that come with putting on a large festival, the IBID, an advocate and support group for local businesses, asked the Newark City Council two years ago to give it more power to regulate street vendors and street festivals.

According to the new rules the IBID created, organizers must leave a 4-foot space in front of buildings so that the public can have access to stores, said Grossman.

Grossman applauds the city’s new fee requirements, and also supports the new vendor fees being imposed. Vendors now need to apply for a $100 permit and are required to have a background check.

“One of the biggest concerns with the city was the cost of fire, police and cleanup, it was approaching $400,000 or $500,000. Now, it’s requiring all festivals to pay 15 percent. I think that’s very prudent,” he said.

Coutinho said the new vendor fees will result in $30,000 in additional funding for the city.

“The only problem I have is it’s done late in the game. It’s upsetting a lot of vendors,” he said.

But Grossman said these are steps in the right direction, though much more needs to be done. He hopes the festival will be more family-friendly than it has been in recent years as well as really benefit the business community and handling it more professionally.

The city also is asking for a full accounting of income and expenses, namely, how much money does the Coutinho Foundation make for renting the street for $1,000, Grossman said.

In the past, Coutinho has said the festival is not a fund-raiser for the Coutinho Foundation, adding that the foundation has lost hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years. During the festival’s 25th anniversary, the foundation lost more than $150,000 because of the extra special events.