By Patrick Hedlund
DNAinfo News Editor
LITTLE ITALY — Supporters of the annual San Gennaro festival who have been fighting a recent recommendation to cut short the 85-year-old event may have just gained a political ally.
Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer pledged to back proponents' efforts to keep the street festival intact, said San Gennaro board member John Fratta, after Community Board 2 recently requested it be cut off at Kenmare Street to address merchants' complaints about the summertime event.
"It was really welcoming news. Scott has always been supportive of Little Italy," said Fratta, 58, president of the Little Italy Restoration Association, whose sat in on the Wednesday meeting with Stringer.
"He understands the dynamics of the feast, he knows that the feast is an inconvenience, and he feels like we can work through those inconveniences.”
The borough president's office said it was waiting to announce the endorsement until meeting with Community Board 2, but that didn't stop supporters from taking to the 2,150-member-and-growing Facebook group "Little Italy and San Gennaro Under ATTACK" to spread the news.
Earlier in the week, dozens of San Gennarro backers packed a community meeting to show their staunch support for keeping the Mulberry Street festival as it is — running from Houston to Canal streets — vowing to fight what they consider unfair characterizations of the historic event by new business owners in the area.
A handful of boutique owners in NoLIta previously voiced concerns about the rowdy atmosphere and loss of business brought on by the 10-day event, spurring Community Board 2 to ask the mayor's office to end it at Kenmare Street.
Fratta claimed that only about half-a-dozen stores north of Kenmare Street have complained about the festival, while many bars and restaurants along Mulberry Street want it there to help business.
"It's very difficult for us to work with people when they want to kill you," he said some storeowners' resistance to the event, adding that statements by some against the festival reached the point of "bigotry."
"Any rational concern is something we'll take up and deal with," he said.
For example, San Gennaro organizers would be willing to relocate concession stands to free up space for business owners concerned about them blocking their stores, Fratta explained.
"Once we get through issues of shortening of the feast, then we can sit down and have a real dialogue with people that have concerns," he added.
Fratta said he also plans to meet with City Councilwoman Margaret Chin on Friday to ask her support for an unshortened festival.
