Vaughan councillor feels Caribana heat
Cancellation of Carnival Kingdom concert laid at feet of Ward 4’s Racco
A Vaughan councillor, who says she’s received “many nasty and inaccurate accusations” by angry ticket-holders of a popular Caribana event that was cancelled, says she wasn’t part of the decision to revoke the show’s permit.
Organizers said they were told their permit had been revoked just two hours before the doors were to open Saturday night.
Carnival Kingdom was to take place at the Improve Canada outdoor entertainment complex on Keele St., near Highway 407.
It was the first time SOS Fest attempted to host the event, which had been running for seven years, in Vaughan.
Tickets ranged from $35 to $95, and about 5,000 had been sold. Machel Montano was one of the acts scheduled to perform.
CaribanaToronto.com, which promoted the Carnival Kingdom event, is not connected to the group that runs the downtown Toronto Caribbean Carnival parade.
Ward 4 Councillor Sandra Racco, who represents North Concord/Thornhill, said in an email to the Star that she received many messages from upset residents Saturday.
They were complaining about a Friday night concert with “very loud music blaring across the neighbourhood from … midnight to well past 3 a.m.
“As an elected official, my job is to represent my residents and businesses when they bring concerns to me,” she said in the email.
She said she then forwarded those concerns to city of Vaughan staff, asking them to investigate.
“Neither I, nor any of my council colleagues, were consulted during the review by staff. The decision to revoke the special event permit was done solely by our staff,” Racco said.
“Sadly, I have been on the receiving end of many nasty and inaccurate accusations, particularly from ticket-holders upset that the permit was revoked, cancelling other events scheduled for this weekend. This is very unfair.
“I did my job in responding on behalf of my constituents, who I believe had legitimate concerns about loud music keeping them awake.”
Racco said she is a big supporter of festivals and community events.
“At the same time, I strongly believe that these events must respect bylaws and permit requirements,” she said. “Loud music blaring until the early hours of the morning is clearly not acceptable.”
On Twitter, disappointed ticket-holders pointed out that the city understood what the event was before the permit was issued and that revoking it so suddenly makes no sense.
The city of Vaughan posted a statement Sunday on Facebook saying its By-law and Compliance, Licensing and Permit Service staff had revoked the Carnival Kingdom permit “after it was determined that organizers did not comply with the terms of the permit.”
The statement clarified that the decision had nothing to do with the mayor or the council.
One of the residents who complained about the noise was David Sieger, who lives near Dufferin St. and Clark Ave. W., more than two kilometres from the venue.
He said he went to sleep Friday night and then was woken up at 1:45 a.m. by the noise.
“It sounded like somebody had set up speakers in our backyard,” he told the Star. “The whole house was kind of vibrating from (it).”
The event held at that venue Friday night was also promoted by SOS Fest, called Re-JouvertMate. It’s not clear if this event was the source of the noise that disturbed Sieger, but he believes it was.