Cinco De Mayo in San Jose (Santa Clara: 2014, living, costs)

[citizensadvocate]

I remember the days when there were parades in downtown San Jose which was discontinued since 2010. In addition there were activities in the Santa Clara county Fairgrounds as well as plenty of flash mob side shows of street performers and lowrider cruisers in many pockets of the city shutting down Intersections and sometimes entire freeways. Is this still the case today?

I haven't heard of the parade since it discontinued that year since the city had severe budget problems which resulted in it cancelling Fourth of July fireworks as well. Though is San Jose having the parade this year on Market street? I know that San Jose brought back July 4th fireworks shows since 2014.

[silverkris]

The American GI Forum, which is a Latino veterans' group, was the parade organizer, not the city. They discontinued the parade from 2011 due to financial issues. They've actually been tangling with the city over the costs for years before that.

[citizensadvocate]

Wow so its the American GI Forum that does these parades. The parades were fun but its not fun to be living, visiting, or passing through San Jose during Cinco De Mayos in the past.

In the past Cinco De Mayo celebrations which coincides with Sharks games the same weekend means a nightmare for anyone living or traveling through San Jose on Cinco De Mayo weekends. Though nowadays is traffic still that bad? Many times one could not turn around or find another route as police blocked intersections and force traffic to go to different parts of the city. This could be a major issue for those just trying to pass through San Jose as well.

So I guess unlike the Fourth of July celebration the Cinco De Mayo never came back over time.