City council approves new Hispanic Heritage Festival to be held downtown

Posted: 7:00 am, July 17, 2024 by Editor Skye Pratt

– At Tuesday night’s regular meeting of the Paso Robles City Council, the council unanimously and enthusiastically approved a new Hispanic Heritage festival to be held in Downtown Paso Robles City Park.

Mayor John R. Hamon Jr. began the session with a proclamation for National Parks and Recreation Week. Colleen Bojorquez, Chief Executive Officer of the Mid-State Fair, provided an update on the 2024 Mid-State Fair. Fire Chief Jonathan Stornetta delivered a presentation on PulsePoint, an emergency response app designed to improve cardiac arrest survival rates. Mark Scandalis, Airport Manager, concluded the presentations with an update on the local airport.

The Hispanic Heritage Festival was the first discussion item on the agenda. Mujeres de Acción will stage the new cultural event in City Park on Sunday, Sept. 15, from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. The event aims to celebrate the Hispanic heritage in Paso Robles and increase awareness of Mexican culture in the area. Non-profit organizations will have the opportunity to distribute their resource information to attendees.

The event, formerly called the Mexican Independence Day Celebration, was founded in 2022 and previously held at Sherwood Forest Park. The celebration attracted large crowds.

Mujeres de Acción requested that the City of Paso Robles co-sponsor the event. The co-sponsorship would allow them to reach a wider community audience and take advantage of banner placement at 1st and Spring Streets and publicity on the city website.

Public Works Director Freda Burnam gave the presentation on the item, and said that the festival will be a “quality cultural experience for the entire community.”

The council members all spoke optimistically and enthusiastically about the new event. Councilwoman Sharon Rhoden noted that the downtown park will make a great venue for the growing celebration.

Chris Bausch congratulated Mujeres de Acción’s founder and community activist Yessenia Echevarria for all she has done for Paso Robles and expressed his excitement for the food at the event in particular.

The motion to approve the festival and for the city to co-sponsor the event passed unanimously.

The council also introduced and conducted the first reading of an ordinance amending the Paso Robles Municipal Code. The update aligns the code with the recently approved 2024 Emergency Operations Plan. This document details the Paso Robles incident management organization, ensures compliance with relevant legal statutes, and outlines critical components of the incident management structure. It serves as the legal and conceptual framework for incident management used by the city and its departments, establishing the emergency organization, assigning tasks, specifying policies and general procedures, and coordinating planning efforts.

The proposed update to Chapter 2.24 reflects the new plan and addresses other administrative matters. The chapter was last updated nearly six years ago, and the revision aims to align it with the city’s current emergency organization and functions.

This item passed unanimously.

The council was also presented with the city’s Five-Year Economic Development Strategic Plan for approval. Click here to view the full plan.

Councilman Bausch said that he believed the plan needed to include new industries besides wine and tourism, such as tech companies. “The plan is great but it is short on new businesses,” he said. He also said he believed that 5 years was too long of a time frame. Councilman Fred Strong responded to this clarifying that the plan can be amended and that it comes before the council every year.

This item passed 3-2 with council members Chris Bausch and Steve Gregory voting no, and Mayor John Hamon, Councilwoman Sharon Roden, and Councilman Fred Strong voting in favor of the acceptance of the plan.

The council also unanimously passed the approval of El Camino Homeless Organization’s supplemental memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the fiscal year 2023-24 third-quarter report and the second amendment to the supplemental MOU for fiscal years 2024-25 and 2025-26.

Watch the full meeting below: