Days after PRIDA, PRIDE, VirtualBoricua.org and Agueybana Productions announced a press conference and guerilla therater action to get answers as to why the theater and community room at the Julia de Burgos Latino Cultural Center in El Barrio have remained closed to the community for 18 months, the local councilwoman issued a statement offering some answers. It took us months of asking and digging to finally get the person responsible for the closing of these community spaces to come forth with something.
What does Hurricane Sandy have to do with East Harlem? We don’t know… but the councilwoman thinks it had an impact on the Julia de Burgos Center…In summary she is proposing that we go back to the way it was before when community could rent the space on a daily basis…
Below are excerpts of the statement issued by her office on Friday, June 21. You can read the whole statement at her website. (http://mmviveritod8.wordpress.com)
“I share my community’s frustration with this extensive delay, which was caused by a combination of our city’s typical bureaucratic processes, the impact of Hurricane Sandy and changes of leadership at both the city’s Economic Development Corporation and the Hispanic Federation. Both parties are nearing a final lease agreement, and critical capital upgrades funded by my office will soon commence.”
“I have proposed to the City’s Economic Development Corporation that we immediately develop a mechanism for cultural groups to rent out the spaces at Julia de Burgos during this interim period, and EDC has agreed to make the space available to rent to local organizations.”
It’s paramount for our community artists and organizations to be able to utilize the available community resources. Why we could not use these spaces in the last two years, we still don’t really know. What is clear is that our planned press conferences and actions finally brought attention to a very serious problem within our community: getting an equal share of the city’s or state’s resources, and being respected for our contributions to the cultural and socio-political life of the city.
Melissa Mark-Viverito Releases Statement on the Julia de Burgos Latino Cultural Center