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Cantina Los Caballitos employees were gearing up for the fourth annual Flavors of the Avenue when they got the news it wasn’t happening.
"We were extremely upset," Tim McBride, manager of the Mexican eatery at 1651 E. Passyunk Ave., said. "We had been planning on it for the last couple weeks. We already rented a frozen margarita machine for outside, so we could serve frozen margaritas under the tent. We were getting real excited."
The three-year-old restaurant had been participating in the event for the past two years, but, a little farther up the avenue, Paradiso at 1627 E. Passyunk has been involved since the 2006 debut. The Italian spot has gotten great response from the community each and every year, owner Lynn Rinaldi said.
"I think it gave more business to the avenue as a whole, not just the restaurants," she said.
Set for noon April 25 this year with a price tag of $35 per person for a tasting of dishes from the area’s eateries, as well as live entertainment, the East Passyunk Avenue Business Improvement District had to shift its budget in further fallout from the guilty verdict rendered against former Sen. Vince Fumo last month. The cancelation and the juggling of funds is a result of a greater need for street cleaning since Citizens’ Alliance for Better Neighborhoods, which was co-founded by Fumo in 1991, will halt its services April 30, according to the district’s Web site.
"It was a really lovely event," district Executive Director Renee Gilinger said. "It was probably my favorite event of the year. It was a difficult decision."
Facing an $1,100 increase in street cleaning from $2,200 a month, something had to be cut and the pricey event, which hosts a wide variety of food, typically cost more than $20,000 a year, Gilinger said. The main expense came from rain-proofing the festivities. To have it regardless of the weather, a tent and tables cost roughly $10,000, but many of the restaurants donated their food, she added.
Francesca DiRenzo-Kaussman, manager of Ristorante Tre Scalini at 1915 E. Passyunk, thinks it is a shame the event is not happening this year, as the Italian restaurant has participated each year, but is pleased with the alternative.
"I’d rather have clean streets most of the time, but it’s a shame we couldn’t get it together," she said of Flavors.
While Citizens’ Alliance typically picked up rubbish in the aftermath, hung banners prior to, among other things for the event, now the district must pay for those duties on its own with a budget consisting of local property taxes in addition to city and state funds.
"They did it for everybody," Gilinger said of Citizens’ Alliance. "All the signs in the Italian Market — they always hung signs for them."
The district stored items such as trash cans, carts and bags in a Citizens’ Alliance-owned garage and the latter provided year-round refuse upkeep along the avenue.
"They had the trash trucks that would pick up the trash that our crew would sweep up," Gilinger said.
The district has a new garage at Iseminger and Mifflin streets it will be moving into shortly and will find a company to take over the trash removal.
The district’s Board of Director Chairman Christian DiCicco stepped down from his post due to time constraints, Gilinger said ("The board takes up a lot of time for folks and it is volunteer time," she said). DiCicco, though, is also executive director of the embattled Citizens’ Alliance. He, along with 12 others, are under investigation as part of a lawsuit filed April 7 by the Attorney General’s Office against former and current employees of the nonprofit.
Attorney General Tom Corbett accounts for about $1.9 million Citizens’ Alliance allegedly unlawfully used. Corbett seeks to hold the organization accountable and make the appropriate parties repay what he says were misused funds. Additionally, he aims to rip the nonprofit status away and find a successor for its remaining assets or remove all of its officers and directors and appoint new ones, according to the lawsuit.
This comes in the wake of the March 16 verdict against Fumo, who was found guilty of nearly 100 counts of mail or wire fraud with obstruction of justice, tax evasion and conspiracy rounding out the remaining 37 counts in federal court. Ruth Arnao, who served as a Senate aide to Fumo before becoming head of Citizens’ Alliance in ’98, was tried with Fumo and found guilty on 45 counts of defrauding the nonprofit, as well as obstruction of justice and filing a false tax return. The ex-senator faces more than a decade in prison.
While there may be changes to keep events affordable in the future, no other ones have been given the ax, Gilinger said.
"Most of our events are pretty low cost, so I don’t think so right now," she said.
The recent Easter egg hunt cost about $2,200 and the Doo-Wop is still scheduled for Aug. 2, but will run about $500 to $2,000 more than the usually $3,300 due the district handling the banners and trash pick-up.
While business owners have witnessed the district’s impact and challenges in the face of losing Citizens’ Alliance, further implications of the latter’s folding may keep the rainy days coming in May.
"They’re really trying hard to keep things afloat and going, but I don’t know how much their stuff relies on Citizens’ Alliance," restaurant manager DiRenzo-Kaussman said.
Though the district has endured success over the years, calling off the annual community event could be problematic, Rinaldi said.
"I think any promotion that gets done on the avenue has an impact," she said. "I think if it’s something we’ve done for three years and we don’t have it, it’s going to have an impact. If something is planned and can’t happen because the resources aren’t there to do it, then that’s a problem."
Though Flavors is gone for now, with more sponsorship and cost-cutting, it could make a return, Gilinger said.
"When we made that decision, we had no idea how much extra it would cost to keep the street-cleaning program going, she said, adding, "We are definitely trying to look at ways to have Flavors without having it cost so much."
