San Jose Cinco De Mayo Festival Canceled
SAN JOSE (CBS/AP) --San Jose's annual Cinco de Mayo parade and festival is dead.
The American GI Forum, a Hispanic veterans group, says it can no longer afford the May 5 celebration of Mexican-American pride that has had a nearly three-decade run in the city.
KCBS' Matt Bigler Reports:
GI Forum vice commander Antonio Chavez said that the economy and city demands for costly police protection and other services has made the event a money loser.
The GI Forum has tangled with the city over costs since 1997 violence and vandalism after a Cinco de Mayo festival attended by nearly 400,000 people.
(Copyright 2011 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services may have contributed to this report.)