From WXXI news.

This is connections.

I'm Evan Dawson.

Our connection this hour will be made later this afternoon on parcel five in downtown Rochester.

When the 56th annual Puerto Rican Festival begins, the festival runs through Saturday, and organizers are trying to reach young and old and everyone in between.

They expect near-perfect weather.

Great crowds.

Coming up, we'll talk about what's in store for this edition of the festival.

But first, the man you've been hearing reporting on the festival for WXXI is my newest colleague at WXXI, Jose Sandoval, who comes to Rochester through the report for America program.

And we've all been eager to welcome Jose as he gets comfortable in his new digs.

I will welcome all of our guests.

Now, first of all, Jose Sandoval, Latino communities reporter for six I news through report for America.

Nice to have you for the first time in the studio.

You better get used to it.

Hey, I appreciate it.

Thanks for having.

Great to have you.

And, our other colleague in the studio is Julio Saenz chief content officer for WXXI Public Media.

Nice to see you as well.

And Orlando Ortiz is president of the Rochester Puerto Rican Festival.

Nice to see you back here.

Likewise, the last few days have been radiant.

How did you set this up?

I mean, like, you could not have really teed it up better.

You got all the rain out of the way.

Yeah.

No.

Yesterday's rain kind of came and we were setting up, and I'm glad it was yesterday.

And, the rest of the weekend.

So we're ready to rock and roll here.

Well, we're going to talk about what's coming up with the festival.

I want to start by making sure our audience understands a little bit of Jose's story and, and you know, Julio, you told us months ago the I was working with, report for America that we might be able to bring in a talent like Jose.

Tell me about a little about what report for America is and how we got involved.

Sure.

So report for America is a national program, funded by dozens.

If not hundreds of foundations and individuals.

And it's really seeking to, solve the crisis of local journalism.

And once a lot of the old business models for how that was paid for started to change, they recognize that this is something that we we can't have.

We can't be without in a democracy.

And so they, came up with this program in 2017 to, pay for folks or help pay the costs of local journalists.

And so in a partnership like this, we apply for the grant.

It's a multi-year grant, which is great because the person really has the chance to get to know the community and dig deep.

So, it's a great program.

They they provide half the funding.

We fundraise for the other half with them.

I should warn Jose, I came here in 2003 thinking it'd be a couple of years on a stop.

And here I am, 23 years later.

I don't think you're ever leaving, my friend.

You know, we'll see about that.

You know, there's it's still it's been, what, three weeks?

Yeah.

So why don't you tell the audience a little bit about your own background, where you come to us from and some of the work that you've done?

Yeah.

So I'm originally from Illinois.

I grew up on our side of Chicago.

My parents are from Mexico.

And so they were born there, immigrated to the US in the 90s.

And so, you know, when I was there, I was working at a, small public radio station as a part time bilingual producer, also did an internship with NPR and the content development team.

So I was helping out with podcast as well.

And then after that I was just applying all over the place, and then I ended up at Blue Ridge Public Radio in Asheville, North Carolina, which is the western portion of the state.

And there I was, there, all Things Considered host and also a general assignment reporter, kind of turned more into a reporter, probably the last year, year and a half that I was there and, and I covered a wide range of things, you know, the city that I came from in Asheville was like 100,000 people at the most.

And that was the biggest city in that region compared to here.

It's like very small, very rural.

And so I covered a lot of different issues when it comes to immigration, elections, voting, rural issues.

It's it's a wide range of issues that I covered when I was there also hosting at the same time.

And then still going to do some reporting after hosting at times, you know, it just, the job calls for it at times.

And, you know, during Halloween, of course, we had, the hurricane come through.

And so during that time as well, I included a lot of, Spanish on air, to try to see if any folks can get information in their own language.

And so I did a lot of the basically all of the Spanish stuff that you heard during that time, whether it's translation, where to get food or where to get water, where some locations that you can go to if you need shelter, as well as, like translating, you know, just some of that stuff to our social media as well.

I was helping out our social media person as well.

So it's been a wide range of issues that I've covered and done.

And so it's it's been a whirlwind.

And how did you first hear about Rochester?

You know, honestly, it was first through, report for America.

And so, you know, the process for folks, for the core members who are trying to become core members is you essentially just apply for it.

And then you go through an interview process with them at first, essentially see how you could match up to be a good fit.

You talk about your background, you also answer some questions as well in there.

And then, for, you know, potential core members, you get to see how many newsrooms are on there.

And so this previous one was about 72 to 77 newsrooms on there.

And then you had over 1000 people applying to be core members.

For, for these jobs.

And so I saw the job here at WXXI news, and I was just like, wow, this is perfect.

I've been wanting to cover Latino communities for, you know, the time that I was even back in Asheville.

But I just couldn't because I was split between the two gigs that I had.

And so that was the first time I heard of Rochester.

I started looking up the demographics, like the population, how the community is out here.

And I was just like, whoa, okay.

Wow.

There is a deep rooted history here.

Specifically for sure with Puerto Ricans in this area.

And then you have a, you know, an influx of, well, of different, of different demographics, you know, Mexicans, Cubans, Dominicans, you know, also coming here as well.

But yeah, it was just a lot of research at the point.

I never I mean, the same time I set foot in Rochester, it was the same day I moved here, which is like not even a month ago.

And so I didn't visit beforehand.

It was just kind of like, you know, I got off of the job and I was like, all right, cool.

Let's do it.

I'd be young man.

That's amazing.

That's fantastic.

We're really glad you're here.

You're already doing great work, Julio.

Signs.

What's the kind of work that you envision for Jose when he's in this role?

Sure.

I think I think, Jose, brings all the experience you just heard about at a very young age, which is very impressive.

And we're going to use them everywhere we can.

But most importantly with this, with, the director of, of, report for America, it's to really focus on these communities that aren't getting coverage in in our area, the Latino community, has lacked that type of coverage for a number of years.

And so it's not just in the city of Rochester or Monroe County, but also the surrounding rural areas.

So, that's actually one of the things that I really liked about his experience, because he had worked out in rural parts of North Carolina as well, and build those relationships.

And that's what it takes to report in the community.

You got to build those relationships.

You got to have coffee with a dozen people before they they'll talk to you.

So, we're really excited about him being able to do that and even work on some stories that are, upstate focus and that we can share in our New York network.

Well, and so I want to be blunt about something that I think sometimes gets misunderstood in the public discourse.

So first of all, American newsrooms are pretty white.

They're disproportionately white.

And they have been for a long time.

But of course, over the last generation we've seen this fracturing of media and everything is changing.

And when we talk about representation, I think the the naysayers or the doubters, you know, they think it is some somehow it is just sort of posturing, or it's just trying to check boxes, you know, and they'll say things like, well, you know, look, Evan, you've been covering the Puerto Rican festival, and Orlando comes on your show and, and, you know, you can cover any issue you want.

You can cover the Asian community, you can cover the indigenous community.

And, and and that is true.

And we do that.

But I think when you don't have a diversity of perspectives, I don't think it's intentional that we would miss something or not understand something or sometimes handle something poorly.

I think it is inevitable that without that perspective, you are not where you want to be sort of holistically.

That is my perspective.

Yes.

As the white guy with this microphone, I think it matters.

And it's not just to sort of please some sort of virtue signaling.

I think it really does matter.

How do you see it?

Absolutely.

I think we as, Latinos are people of, of, minority communities.

You see it and, it just I think it's the diversity of thought, forget the where my parents came from versus somebody else.

It's just a lack of diversity of thought.

If you're going to the, well, for the same type of folks and you never expand beyond your circle, that that's how companies go out of business when you when you don't see trends coming, when you don't have the sensitivity to work with parts of the community, they're growing and there is some cultural competency that has to be there, doesn't mean that you can't develop that.

But it it's a way to really expedite that process and bring some, some knowledge that you're not going to get in any other way.

There's a great story that that I remember from a number of years ago, and Victor Cruz was scoring all kinds of touchdowns for the New York Giants, and he was having that breakout season and one of the New York papers.

I don't think it was the times one of the papers in New York did this amazing cover piece on their sports section, and behind them they had the Cuban flag, and he's Puerto Rican and just not having and oh, yes.

And there's they're similar, but they're not.

And those moments show how important cultural competency representation are, because the whole community is looking at each other like, you know, no one Latino works there because somebody would have spotted that.

I don't know how many hundred people work there.

That tells you everything you need to know about how diverse that team is.

Yeah, no, that is a wild story.

So, Jose Sandoval for you.

I mean, you know, I you're not tasked with the role of coming in and sort of solving every possible reporting issue in America.

You are one reporter in America.

But give me a sense for how you see the importance of representation and covering different communities.

I think it's so important.

I mean, you know, for example, at the last place I worked at, I was the only Latino in the newsroom and the only one that was fluent enough to speak Spanish.

And, and so you just saw that out in the community where people were just like, oh, like we have somebody there that's that can be a voice for us.

And so for me, it's always just coming in with, you know, like all these unbiased perspectives really look at the community from the outside because the reality is it's just like, that's when I'm covering or coming into these other Latino communities, like I'm not a part of their community.

I'm still an outsider, too.

And so I have to come in with an unbiased lens and, you know, really earn that trust, build friendships, relationships, connections within the community as well.

Because, like Julio mentioned, it's just like I'm also, you know, I'm Mexican.

And so like, you know, a lot of the folks here, you know, that I've met here are Puerto Rican.

And so like, it's like, you know, a lot of the different cultural stuff behind that, even myself, like the Spanish that I speak, I stand out because it's Mexican slang.

And so, but, you know, so it's, it's just a lot of that were my perspective is literally just to come here, really look at the community from an unbiased lens, see the good the bad, the trends, the things that are happening, and then just be able to provide a voice for the community here.

And that's what it is.

At the end of the day, for me, it's just being able to show that representation in media and specifically here at WXXI.

Now, you know, I want to show folks like, hey, like, I'm not just here to just, you know, grab a story here or there, like, I'm actually here to just be part of the community, go to the events, go to these meetings, be part of it.

And not just here in the city of Rochester, not just in Monroe County, but also other parts as well.

So Orlando Ortiz, president of the Rochester Puerto Rican Festival, this conversation about representation, how do you see it?

Yeah.

No, I, I1I appreciate WXXI for placing that importance.

And having that representation.

I agree with what Julio mentioned in terms of being in the community and not just talking about it, but actually represent, you know, having the folks that represent the company in this case, WXXI, and, and just being out in the community.

So I'm looking forward to establishing those relationships, with those a and, and seeing where we go from here.

Well, let's turn our attention to some of your early reporting here, and you're coming at an interesting time, right.

Ready for the festival here.

And, you know, 56 years of a festival.

It is.

Yeah.

I mean, you're going to experience it, but what's your impression so far of hearing about this festival?

All the food and the music and the plans.

It's ginormous.

Yeah.

You know, I, I haven't, you know, the past three years, I haven't experienced this type of, like, you know, energy behind a festival like this.

And so that, I mean, even just having a festival that that's this big is huge for the community here as well.

The past three years of there is no, you know, Muskie Independent State Festival, no Puerto Rican festival.

And so it's just coming here or the, you know, there's active festivals here and I'm like, wow.

And then people talk about it and I see photos of it.

I'm like, those are thousands of people, like literally just here.

So it's it's quite amazing.

Honestly, it astonishes me that such things happen very publicly.

So what food are you going to check out first?

Oh.

Oh my gosh.

There's a lot of food that I haven't checked out here yet.

I've had some Puerto Rican food, but there's still there's just still so many.

Like, I'm probably going to end up, like, eating a lot at some point.

One of these days at the festival, just just trying all these different foods because, you know, again, like, I just, I just I just have to I haven't have been able to just be out there and just, like, eat at a bunch of different places, so.

Well, I mean, Julio is a longtime journalist, journalist in general, don't have great diets.

I mean, like, that's just the reality.

But I mean, like a hazard of the job.

He's going to have to probably eat everything.

Oh, absolutely.

Yeah.

The, my recommendations is a food truck that makes a huge metal plate.

And he was what you call someone from the countryside in Puerto Rico.

So it's a little plate, kind of like our trash plate.

Garbage plates.

Right, sir.

But it's got just fried plantains and a bunch of other, this, like, spicy sauce on top that I highly, highly recommend.

See, that's going to send me to a food coma, and I if I, if I, if I'm going to keep working like I can't, can't do that all the time.

So let's start there Orlando.

So you're in parcel five here and you're ready to go for the next three days for people who've never been to the festival, set the scene a little bit.

So yeah.

So we've been around 56 years, which is a great, tradition for us here in Rochester.

Deeply rooted organization.

For me, I always say, you know, we kicking off Thursday is a free day.

So I always tell people, come and enjoy it.

Today, come.

We start at 5:00 to 11.

Come check it out.

We've been talking about the food that we the raised, the pork, the baccala those, which is like a fry, fritter, you know, and the music.

A lot of folks come for the music.

Just something that, artists that they may not hear.

You know, some of our nationally known artists that we bring to the festival is usually the main draw.

We also have a lot of local bands that are amazing, to listen to.

So similar to, like, if you were going to Jazz Fest just to go check it out, for example, you know, we encourage folks to come out to the Puerto Rican Festival and, and check out the musical, talent, the food, and all the other activities.

I'm sure we'll talk about it in a second.

Well, and so, you know, I was reading the conversation that you had with Jose about this, and I want to talk a little bit about, you know, expanding the footprint a little bit because but I'm thinking about Julio signs a story about, you know, the newspaper getting the wrong flag behind an athlete.

And I thought, how would Jose Sandoval have felt if you're watching a Mexico World Cup match and they threw, like, the Venezuelan flag up on the screen that I presume you were a Mexico fan at the World Cup?

Oh, of course.

Yeah.

You got to be forced to work.

Yes.

Okay, so I mean, those details matter.

Having said that, at the Puerto Rican festival, Orlando said, you know, you want you want the whole Latino community embraced here.

And even if that means you're going to bring that Venezuelan flag, you know, bring your Cuban flag, bring bring your energy.

Yeah, yeah.

One of the things I'm very, very proud of our community is despite it being the Puerto Rican festival by its name, right forever, has been that every year I see more and more different types of flags.

There.

And I love that.

Yes, we are a Puerto Rican festival.

But we see Dominican flags.

Colombians, Venezuelans, Panamanians.

Not a lot of Mexico.

Maybe you can bring your Mexican flag this time.

But it's great to see that diversity of flags within the Latino community, that's represented here and primarily is there's not a lot of these events that are Latino driven to this magnitude here in Rochester.

So the way I see it is for them to also embrace this event as their own, despite the name being Puerto Rican Festival.

And, you know, we try to do that through the music.

We brought, you know, many, many other lights.

I say it was emitting ghettos and even tonight's art is our main artist is from Dominican Republic.

So that in itself is drawing, you know, that that population or demographics in this area, they're embracing it because they're excited to see their Dominican, fellow artists here tonight that they've never seen before.

And, you know, we've we've brought other types of food that are not just Puerto Rican.

So it's great to see the, the community embrace that and see all those flags.

Well, and you know, Julio, having been in media in this city for a long time now, not dating you, I'm just saying you've got some experience where they with Brian.

You got some experience.

And you know Jose's point about coming in as you know, as a new Rochester area and just seeing the scale and the scope of of an event like this.

And, you know, he's been in smaller communities, different places that just don't have either events or representation or voices often for, for different communities.

You know, can you describe what it has been like working in media and how important you see it for all communities to have events that they can feel like they have a sense of ownership on, that they're not an afterthought that that they are, you know, at the front and center of I think the festival, for example, I think is one of the most important events of the year in the community.

It's where you come and see people you haven't seen all year.

It's almost like a, family reunion for the local community.

Absolutely.

You see, folks you haven't seen, everybody sort of checks in with each other.

And so I think there's so much more important than the food in the music, which are all great reasons to go, but also it really provides that collective space for everybody.

And though the community here is very large, it's over.

It's close.

It's over 90,000 in in the MSA, it's still, lacks points where it can see itself, it can reflect, you know, with itself and see each other and all that.

And so those kind of events and going back through history, I think that's one of the things that really has made the community here so strong and so unified.

When you look at some of the other cities in the region, the, their communities, their leadership isn't as unified as it is here.

And you look at other cities and we have many more cultural institutions in the Latino community here than in others.

And it's been because of things like this.

And from the beginning, the Puerto Rican festival had folks that were involved that weren't Puerto Rican.

And it's been a, really a focal point for the culture in the community in the area.

Yeah.

And we're going to get back in a moment to some more of the schedule coming up for the next three days, some of the fun and the music and things that, and especially I want to talk to Orlando about the idea of making this truly intergenerational, kid friendly, all of the things that they've been working on.

But one of the thing that kind of pops for me, in my mind, Julio, is we're in this weird, fragmented media time.

So if you want to find a podcast that is either hosted by someone who either speaks your first language, looks like you, is from where you're from, has your politics, has your ideas about the world?

I mean, you can find a little slice of the world everywhere.

You can find a podcast, you can probably find different forms of media.

Sometimes you can for people still watch television.

Is cable news still there?

I think that's still a thing.

People can find all kinds of things that are fragmented, and someone is going to email me today and say like, well, why do you have to focus on representation?

Like people can now go out and find, you know, the voices of what they want covered.

And I think there's a danger to just assuming that, because now there's all these different platforms that the legacy media and that's us doesn't have to worry about it, that we don't have to care and be intentional about representation because, well, someone will just find it another place and there's going to be a radio station, there'll be a podcast, there'll be this kind of a network.

I think there's a danger in just sort of saying, well, people will just find it.

Now, you don't have to worry about that.

How do you see that?

That's that.

I think that's a great point of because that's exactly what this grant from report for America is designed to do is to tell those local stories that aren't being covered in national Hispanic media, you know, those that are Telemundo, Univision, they do a fine job, but they're focused on Los Angeles, Miami.

Yeah, of course, large Hispanic media markets.

And so the stories of, I would say Rochester, Buffalo, Syracuse, Cleveland, all these smaller towns that have Hispanic populations that are significant, they don't get covered at all.

It's a it's a very different experience living in an area that is not Latino dominant like a New York.

I'm.

Yeah, even New York.

Yeah.

New York City, Miami and Los Angeles.

It's a very, very different experience versus being here and having to struggle to find the things that you cook on a regular basis for your family and other things.

Yeah.

I mean, Jose, I, you know, been a little bit older than you.

When I got into media, it was so different.

I mean, it was I don't even know what J schools are teaching now just because, you know, where are you sending journalists out to work for?

I mean, there's a lot there's probably gonna be more consolidation.

My guess is local television news will probably consolidate over the years.

Probably not that long from now.

We've seen newspapers shutting down.

Did you ever blink about the idea of becoming a journalist?

I mean, does that look like a career that you feel like you can stay with?

I mean, honestly, it was for a career that I accidentally got into.

I didn't go to traditional J school.

And so that's not, you know, my background.

Of course, I have a degree in comms, but it wasn't intended to be a news journalist.

To be quite frank with you.

Yeah, it was to be a sports journalist.

So, you know, I really fell in love with the news journalism aspect of being out in communities and also being part of these communities that you were reporting on back at.

You know, when I was in the rural parts of North Carolina and so like that where I was like, when I started that job, I was immediately like, this is what I want to do for the rest of my life.

And, and even though I was, you know, kind of a little bit at it, I was like 26 from probably, I think 26 when I, when I got there, it's a little bit later.

But also I understand the challenges that our space, our medium is going through as well.

So it's kind of, you know, like how long am I get it, you know, and so there's a lot of questions that go behind my mind.

Even sometimes my parents are like, are you sure you want to do this?

I remember when I told them I was switching, professions from, you know, originally wanted to be a teacher to now and to, you know, to cons and they're like, can you find a job?

Everybody knows the way to an easy life in journalism.

That's so it was, you know, it was an accident.

And this is something that I love and I want to do for the rest of my life.

And I can definitely see myself doing this for the rest of my life.

And that's I've never found anything where it's given me this much passion and this much motivation to just work towards every single day.

And so the passion I have for this has been, you know, just crazy just how much I love it.

And even when I'm not not working, not, you know, here, not on the community.

Like, I'm still thinking about it and so or I'm like, oh, I could have done this that way.

I've done it this way.

You it you're doing the right.

So it's just it's yeah, it's a lot of, it's a lot of stuff and it keeps me on my toes.

And so but yeah, I mean this is, this is for sure what I want to do the rest of my life.

And I've only discovered that about three years ago.

So I think you got the right guy who sounds good.

I get there, man.

So we're going to let Julio going after we come back from the only break of the hour here.

We're going to dig more into the Puerto Rican festival, which kicks off at 5 p.m.

at parcel five today.

5 to 11 tonight, two more days to follow.

And Orlando Ortiz is president of the Puerto Rican festival.

Jose, Sandoval is with us Latino communities reporter for WXXI news through report for America.

And my colleague Julio Saenz, chief content officer for WXXI Public Media.

We'll let you get back to I'm sure you have a meeting.

I do.

You always have a meeting.

Thank you for popping in.

Thank you.

All right, well, let's take that only break.

We'll come right back.

And connections.

Coming up in our second our connection Summer sessions looks at the American economy this week.

And today we're talking about the proposal in New York City for free public transit.

New mayors are on.

Mamdani has said that free public transit would help thousands of New Yorkers and only get around the city, but find and keep jobs and have better lives.

Economist Ahmed Barnaby I'll examine the data that is connected to this kind of proposal, and we'll discuss it next hour.

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The 56th annual Puerto Rican Festival kicks off at 5 p.m.

tonight at parcel five.

How do you like the space of partial phi, by the way?

Oh my God, I love it.

I know you've been in different places over the years.

Yeah.

Yes.

We love it.

Is is feels festive.

You know, maybe the not so much the grass this weekend, but, the space is just feels like a festival.

So you talked a little about what's happening tonight.

So take us through the rest of the weekend here.

If you if you don't mind.

Here.

And for those, who want to kind of see a full schedule, where are you?

Online.

Where can people learn more?

The PRfestival.com, all our schedules on there.

Art is and tainment and all that good stuff.

So what's going on on Saturday when you open on Saturday?

So I'm sorry.

On Friday.

Yeah.

What what day of the week is Thursday?

It's Thursday Friday, Saturday tomorrow.

When do you start up?

Tomorrow.

So today and tomorrow is 5 to 11.

Yeah.

And, Saturday from noon to 11 p.m.

Saturday morning.

We do have the Puerto Rican parade, which we are excited to bring in for a second year now.

And that one kicks off at 11 a.m.

over at East and Alexander, goes down East Avenue and ends right at Liberty Pole.

Then folks can just come right into the festival.

We have free admission, 12 to 2 at the festival, and then folks will be greeted with amateur boxing at the Puerto Rican Festival.

We have about 15 bouts of, kids ranging from six years old all the way through teenagers.

And it's it's six years old.

Yes.

It's amazing.

How much passion and just the energy that amateur boxing brings, to the festival.

It's just really, really cool to see, and, you know, the community coming after the parade, enjoying that.

It's always a pleasure.

Amateur boxing is kind of having a moment.

It's had a moment for a long time, but, I mean, like, how popular is it right now?

So I don't know, on a on a global scale, how is popular?

I just know how it is at the festival.

Yeah.

And we get about a thousand people that come out during that.

Obviously you have, similar as I talked about the local bands earlier, playing at the festival is it's, it's a it is a pleasure for them to be there is one of the largest events that we have here in Rochester.

Latino focused.

I think my my assumption is that is similar to that for the amateur boxers that are participating at the Puerto Rican festival doesn't happen all the time.

So all the all the, the boxers that are participating in the, in the boxing, they bring their friends and family and, and supporters and it's it's huge.

It's amazing to watch.

And tell me about dominoes here.

You kind of got a wry smile there.

I say about are you a dominoes player?

You know, I think the way that, Mexicans play dominoes is a little bit differently.

And so I can't, you know, but I have friends that are, you know, of, Puerto Rican descent, also of Argentinian Cuban descent, who have let me play dominoes.

And I get yelled at for playing the wrong every single time.

So I'm a I'm a letter landlord.

Speak about that so that the Domino tournament is another popular thing we have at the festival.

Very culturally driven.

Burgos income tax helps put that together.

And he does Thursday, Friday open play.

So people go go there, kind of brush up on your skills or learn a little bit while you're playing.

And then on Saturday, all day long, we do a tournament and that's when it gets like really intense, especially towards Saturday night when we're drawing down tournament style to, to the winners.

And, you know, they get their bragging rights and trophies and all that good stuff.

But it's a really, really intense game.

Are you a dominoes player?

You know what I know I'm like, I mean, maybe not as bad as Jose's saying he is, but I can play, but I'm not like, really good at it.

Okay.

I'll be honest with that.

And you know, so I, I like to play, but depends on who my teammate is because you're playing teams and but by Saturday night you're going to see like the top of the top.

Oh yeah.

Right.

Oh yeah.

They come you know, they'll be there Thursday, Friday checking out the competition that you know friendly playing.

Sure.

And then Saturday cousins you know the gloves comes off and it's real intense competition.

This is a three day festival.

How important is it to you that families feel like I can we can bring our kids, and there's a lot for them to do.

Yeah, it's it's a great feeling to to know that one.

Parents feel safe.

We always strive to make the festival as safe as we can.

And, you know, I'm proud to say it, over the past 20 years that I've been a part of it, it's always been that, so it's an honor for us to have, their family, the families there, and particularly with, with, kids that are obviously growing in here, they're not experiencing the Puerto Rican culture in Puerto Rico itself.

So it's great to see the kids experiencing a little bit of, you know, the island in right here in downtown Rochester.

We have a full schedule of, children's activities that are culturally driven.

This year, we're adding a, we're doing a book reading from, a Spanish author, in the Buffalo area that she's actually coming to, to read to the children.

We have books in Spanish and English that will be given away to the kids.

So it's always great to, to have those, those the families come out and, and showcase and come out and see our vessel.

And Jose, through your reporting, I learned about Casita and, you know, I was I was going to ask, I mean, how inspired are you by that Super Bowl halftime show?

And, you know, are you going to try to represent you got Casita going?

Do you want to explain a little?

Yeah, I know you were telling Jose in his story about so.

Yeah.

So like I said, experience, like I said, that means the house.

Right.

Or a small house.

And if anybody watched the the Super Bowl halftime show, or any of the Bad Bunny stuff, there's a, you know, he used the Casey the or this house as part of his, set for this world tool to where he had.

And it's intended to be representative of a typical typical Puerto Rican household or a house.

That is just kind of a modest house and has the front porch and people hang out and, you know, you bring family, friends, and that's kind of the hangout spot.

And, you know, he made that into a big thing in his tour.

And locally we have, like I said, that experience, company that is mine, mimicking a little bit of that to bring that perspective to, to Rochester.

So they've had several of events here.

So on Saturday evening at 830, we actually the house is getting built right now.

It's like 80% there already.

So if you drive by parcel five you will see and you see it there.

And you know, we have we're going to have performances on that stage on the on the porch of the casita.

We'll have people hanging out in the porch of the casita during these performances.

So it's intended to be a very inclusive, performance, and I'm excited for it.

I saw it live one time, and I think people are continuing to kind of be, inspired by it.

So bad Bunny an inspiration.

Oh, yeah.

Take it straight from the man himself.

Yeah.

Okay, so and then you mentioned on Saturday morning, 11 a.m.. Is the parade correct?

Yep.

Okay.

So Jason Alexander, so what would you say to people who enjoy not only the, the festival but love the, you know, sort of the feel of being able to kind of wave flags and do their own caravans and parades after hours, because I think from my perspective, having covered this for years, there is, I think, unfair stereotyping.

And then there's, you know, a reality of what happens after the festival.

What we know happens after festivals.

People are having a good time.

They're partying, you know, they're sometimes honking horns, they're waving flags or having a good time.

They're playing music and, you know, they'll do that pretty late.

And so what would you say to people who are feeling that energy?

But to them that's connected to the festival?

I know to you that is outside of the festival, what would you say?

Yeah.

So, last year was the first year that we did our own Puerto Rican parade.

Prior to that, it was a separate organization.

We always partnered together, but last year was truly the first year we did it.

And it was amazing.

It was amazing to see the the pride, the the cultural.

I don't know, energy that we that folks had, not only the participants but also the folks that were in attendance this year, we expect that parade to be double what it was last year.

So that is going to be an amazing, parade for us.

I enjoy seeing the people celebrating owning it.

Different organizations and agencies that are part of it.

One of the things that we're really trying to do is, connecting with those folks that wanted to do or have done those impromptu parades after the Puerto Rican festival in the past, connecting with those folks and seeing if there's a way to organize them to come to the fest or the parade itself and showcase, we want to harness that emotions in the parade in a safe, safe manner.

We want them to come to the Puerto Rican parade, in March this year.

We have double the amount of participants that we had last year.

So my my hope is that the the folks that were doing those activities after the festival are now part of the parade and will continue to increase every year so that within they own the parade, they want to showcase that and be able to celebrate in a safe manner.

I can see somebody saying to you, but but listen, Orlando, we're not hurting anybody.

But you mentioned bad, bad bunny, one of the, one of our guests, after we had a show after the Super Bowl, with people kind of talking about what that show meant to them.

And one of our guests said they love seeing, like, the three year olds like sleep.

And while everybody else is partying, like, like, that's just part of the deal.

And sometimes it goes late and there's music and there's an energy, and the kids fall asleep and you're all hanging out, and, and someone might say to you, that's all we're doing is like, you know, it's energy.

It's it's harmless.

It's good fun.

It's in the tradition.

What would you say?

I would agree with that.

Right.

It starts off that way.

Folks do go out there and want to, you know, showcase their, their pride and everything honking the horns, waving the flags.

That's I agree with you.

That's no harm with that.

Right?

I think at some point later, the like the later it goes, something shifts.

And maybe those people that started that parade in the beginning are no longer there.

And they're now they've done their thing and now they're gone.

And but how do you stop that activity from growing and with other folks joining the parade or the unsanctioned activities?

And then things change, and then at some point now become something different than than what those folks celebrated, you know, and wanted to, to do early on, early on in the day.

Right.

Not at two in the morning.

Yeah.

Versus 8 or 9.

Yeah.

I think that's fair.

And I know you're part of a Northeast Safety Committee.

That has been, you know, kind of talking about this and working probably working with police as well, working with the city.

So about a week ago, as our colleagues news reported, the city has a new, I guess, IT policy that says, after 11:00, you can't have groups of ten or more, 11 a, 5 a.m.

you can't have groups of ten or more congregating that that would be viewed as a misdemeanor offense, and the police will target that.

Does that make sense to you or how do you see that?

Yeah.

So a little background.

So the Northeast Safety Committee, we've been, a group for about eight years now, or minus a couple of Covid years, but we've been, assembling with different agencies, community leaders that are interested in and concern about those activities that happened after the Puerto Rican, festival.

And the purpose of that was to go around in the streets where they typically happen, talk to residents, talk to the folks on that last day of the festival, have the conversations with them during the evening parties while the festival is still happening.

We have a, group from the Northeast Safety Committee, this walk in Clinton Avenue and other areas and talking to residents.

One of the things that we realize is if we have conversations with them, educate them on the things that they couldn't, you know, can and can't do.

The evening goes much smoother.

And this is in collaboration with RPD.

So one of the things that we ask our PD is if they see an issue that is escalating within reason, right.

Because no, the safety committee is not RPD.

Sure.

But if it's a hey, can you go and talk to that group and just have them turn the music down or say, hey, 10:00 noise, no noise ordinance.

We're going to have to shut down right now.

The group, Northeast Safety Committee will go talk to these folks.

They already have been talking to them throughout the day, having the conversations, establishing the relationships you mentioned earlier.

And that is a much smoother conversation than the police, you know, walking up to them and saying, you got to shut down and that's it.

It's more of an abrupt conversation versus the Northeast Safety Committee has established that rapport with them.

And we every year we've had it the last 3 or 4 years that we've done that in a more, intentional way.

And the issues have subsided very quickly without police and without police intervention.

I don't recall really any sort of newsworthy major event post festival last year.

I mean, I have to go back and think about, I mean, so it does seem to be working the approach that you're talking about, do you have any reason to think that this new, ten person policy actually was rolled out because of the festival, or do you think that that was independent of the festival?

Yeah, no, it was independent.

That that I'm aware.

It was in the pending on the festival, for other incidents that, you know, have occurred in recent weeks or months here in Rochester.

Obviously at the festival itself, we don't fall under that because we're permitted event.

So we have all the permits that are needed from the city.

Yeah.

I do know that working with the NRC Safety Committee, RPD, and the mayor's office on Clinton Avenue, that'll be shut down on Saturday evening.

I think it's around 6:00 or something like that.

Many residents were notified.

Businesses were notified, of the street closure.

That will be happening on Saturday evening, which will eliminate a lot of those drive through curb events that have happened in the past.

As how as far as how does the new ordinance applies to that particular instance?

I'm not sure.

Obviously Clinton will be shut down, so I, I'd imagine they would enforce whatever they have.

You know, if ten folks are assembling, I would imagine they would have to enforce it.

But, I'm not sure how RPD that's a separate detail that they have for that.

So, but yeah, we were permitted.

So we don't fall into that at the moment.

So how does that you come into a city that's got this incredible festival?

I mean, really, I'm not doing PR for them.

I'm as you've mentioned, you don't see this everywhere, right?

I mean, it's a really extraordinary thing.

And as a reporter, you come in and you're talking to colleagues and, you know, you're learning the story of the history of not only the festival, but sometimes how the community talks about the festival and how sometimes how reporters, either intentionally or sometimes unintentionally, might stereotype something.

How do you see your role in making sure that you're going to report on what happens without, you know, sort of playing into stereotyping?

And I think that's I mean, that's a cultural thing.

Of course.

I'm, I'm used to the parties happening after or like, you know, late night noise, like, you know, kids falling asleep on a chair at, like, you know, at a quinceanera or like, you know, something like that.

So I'm like, I'm used to that because I understand that from a cultural aspect.

Like my, you know, my family does the same thing.

Or if we have parties, you know, family parties that lasts way late into the hours in the night.

And so it's just a cultural thing that I kind of understand from that perspective.

I think, again, that's where I come in with the different kind of viewpoints.

Of course, folks may view, you know, certain activities, certain ways, or they may view you know, this with this associated.

But like I come here with an unbiased lens towards that, but then also with the cultural aspect as well of, you know, hey, like, yeah, that happens.

But also like, you know, other things have other has happened in other festivals as well.

And so it's always just trying to find the balance of like what happens and like when to report on it.

And I think for me, I just have to come in and just of course, the end of the day, the news is news and we have to, you know, report on if something significant does happen.

But at the same time, like, you know, I've told a lot of members of the community, like, my line is open for direct communication.

Yeah, you can text me, call me if you have an issue with the way report something, the way I report something, the way I explain something.

That's that's just it starts with dialog right there.

Because we just want to be able to understand where they are coming from and then also help bridge that gap between the two of us of like, hey, like, this is why I did it this way.

But I understand where you're coming from in terms of that.

So it's just coming to a place of understanding, too.

I think a lot of it was blown up by social media over the years, and thank God most news sites don't have comment sections anymore.

Yeah.

I mean, some of the stuff I used to read, even in my early reporting to kind of, oh my gosh, and it's not a lot of people, but boy, they can make things, can make you really go, oh boy, there's some, some really rough ideas about the world out there.

But anyway, so that's a sense from where the safety committee is.

Now, let's close with this here.

We got a few minutes to talk about the rest of the festival here.

You already said that.

You know, you think people who have never been there, they're going to have a great time down at parcel five?

No matter your background, you're going to go have a great time.

Probably experience something you never experienced before.

You talked a little about the food.

You talked about why Puerto Rican food is better than Mexican.

Is there a if you're getting one thing, one food item that you've never experienced before, where would you send people?

What are they getting?

You got to pick one.

Oh, that's a tough one.

So at the at the festival this year, we'll have if you're coming in straight down admissions.

I'll be eating at Panda's.

But it's Panda.

Yes.

They actually have a brick and mortar right around the corner from you here on on Lake Avenue.

They are, Dominican.

And they have fantastic food.

So for me, I'm hoping they have been there, but I know they'll have some other, any type of pork that they have.

So rice and pork are my usually usual go tos and, empanadas.

So those will be my my recommendations at Panda's.

Say you're pointing to a Dominican outfit and Puerto Rican festival.

I mean like that's look at the growth here.

Yes, that's what I yeah I didn't even think about that.

But that's just a way to demonstrate that even though it says Puerto Rican Festival, we we are truly embracing other cultures that are here represented.

And they also see it as their own festival as well.

What's your first memory of food?

As a kid?

Wow.

I mean, I grew up in Puerto Rico, so, I was there until I was ten years old, so I do remember, the I, like I mentioned right now, I'm a huge, pork lover.

So, the, the just roasting a full pig in, in your yard.

Basically, we're at a gathering, which is something that I, we used to do here at the festival.

And, you know, it's a little bit of a hard thing to do, but I do remember, you know, my parents, you know, and family just getting up earlier because you got to start like at four in the morning to, to start roasting this big.

So, roasting a pig and, and just, you know, eating that energy, the pork lover that you are, you could be.

But that is also.

Do you think the city of Rochester supports this festival the way you want it to?

And I'm talking about the actual government.

How is your relationship with City council with the Evans administration?

How is that?

But yeah, so I would say since 2007 and I believe, Mayor Duffy was in office at that time, the city has been a huge, a huge supporter of the, of the festival, and, and city council as well.

And so I will say that our relationship, started, you know, in 2007 what it is today.

And it's, it's only, you know, continuing to increase.

The last few mayors have strongly supported the, the festival.

And obviously, Emily Gavins continues to do that as well.

And, you know, from city council aspect, they've always supported, you know, Miguel Melendez, currently the president, you know, obviously continues to support.

And they all, you know, they'll all be here celebrating as well.

So we we're very fortunate to have a city government that supports, not only the city but in in recent years, the county as well.

So both of them together has been a huge instrument, instrumental, you know, aspect of why we continue to be here.

And, you know, Jose, as you look at other cities, you know, I don't know how other cities are with those festivals.

I do know when I speak to other, we're going to say organizers for different cities.

They they look to us and say, wow, like, that's amazing that the city government, both city and county, support the festival in such a big way because that that's a that's a huge lift off off of us and that we're trying to put produce these events for a city.

Do you look at, any other festivals that do exist elsewhere as either models or things that you've learned from?

Yeah.

So we've we've a number of years ago, there was an organization in Jersey that connected a lot of the northeast, parades and festivals.

So that's where I started getting to know some of these festivals in Jersey and New York City, Boston, which is a really huge one.

Cleveland, and sometimes we partner in a way that if it's far enough, even though we do draw people from Cleveland and Boston and Toronto and all folks in this area, we sometimes partner in the sense of like, hey, we might fall on the same weekend in Boston.

So what artists are we're trying to bring where you're bringing so that way we can see, okay, if the artist can play here on Friday and on Saturday in Boston, it doesn't really take away from any of our, you know, attendees.

But we we take advantage of the flights and, and just the, the overall logistics that happen behind the scenes, with festivals like that.

So it's great to have that partnership and share ideas.

Years ago, someone told me, if you love to play golf, don't become a teaching professional.

You're never going to play.

If you love the Puerto Rican festival, don't become the president of the festival because you're going to be working the whole time.

Do you get to enjoy the next three days?

I, I do, in a different way.

I'm excited.

I will be exhausted come Saturday night.

I do remember one time we were at Red Wing Stadium, and, you know, it was probably early on when I, when I became president and somebody asked me that same question like, you know what?

What do you get out of this?

Like how?

Because we are 100% volunteer board, an organization that the execute this festival, which is a pride for us.

And when I talk to other folks, they're like, what do you mean?

Like that's that's unheard of in today's economy and world.

Right.

But very proud of that.

And I didn't know the answer at that time, until I was in Frontier Field and one of the years, I think it was 2010, and I went up to the suites and it was the last night, the one where there was singing, and he got on stage and then I went up to the suites to just look down at the other crowd.

And, and that moment I knew the answer.

It was like, this is why we do it.

This is what I enjoy.

This is why we do it.

Seeing the people having a great time and enjoying themselves.

Full schedule information online where PRfestival.com.

Thank you for coming in.

I know how busy you are.

Have a great next three days 5 p.m.

tonight.

It starts at parcel five, goes to 11, 5 to 11 tomorrow noon to 11.

Although on Saturday, although the parade starts at 11 a.m.. Correct.

Saturday.

Thank you Orlando Ortiz great to see you.

Likewise.

Thanks.

And Jose Sandoval, my colleague here.

Thanks for hanging out with us now.

Appreciate you for having me on.

We look forward to a lot more of your great work.

You know, certainly Jose Sandoval, our newest colleague here at six.

Now, we got more connections coming up in just a moment.

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