Italian Fest stooping to a new low

[Youngstownshrimp]

I ENJOYED THE ITALIAN FEST LAST NIGHT, MY WIFE AND I DANCED OUR ASS OF TILL 11PM

[Towntalk]

Mr. Davis said that he will have his weekend people look into this problem. jol1584 you should send Mitch Davis at WKBN about your experience. Mitch is a great guy and will do whatever he can.

[Peggy Gurney]

Good

[Towntalk]

I sent messages to Mitch Davis (WKBN) News boss; and Todd Franko Editor of The Vindicator re: Italian Fest complaints.

[Towntalk]

This festival has 6 blocks of downtown Youngstown tied up with tents on both sides of the Square. That means that if anyone has any legitamate business downtown they will be forced to pay these people "mob protection".

http://www.vindy.com/news/2015/aug/01/italian-fest-serves-up-traditional-food-/

[Peggy Gurney]

Wow, that is just unbelievable.

The mayor's office should be INUNDATED with calls first thing Monday morning.

[jay]

Isn't one of the event's organizers a city employee?  He should know better.

[stewie]

They cannot charge you to use a public street. It is a suggested "donation". You should have insisted that you be allowed in. They have to let you.

[joly1584]

I will be letting the ItalianFest people know how I feel about this!

[joly1584]

They started charging everyone @ 3:30.  It isn't fair to downtown workers who still have legitimate business to do, with no other way to get to their destination-mostly the banks.  In previous years they started charging @ 5:00-downtown employees had to pay the entrance fee just to get a take home dinner.

On a side note one of the downtown landlords had to tow vehicles that were parked in a private parking lot meant for the tenants.  All of the vehicles were from ItalianFest vendors.

ItalianFest used to be an annoyance, but now they seem feel they are above the rules. 

[Towntalk]

Just a thought, do you think that the Italian Fest people are doing this to people who either live or work downtown? If so, those people should have reported it to the police and whoever was doing it should have been arrested.

[Towntalk]

This is exactly why these events should not be allowed downtown period.

[joly1584]

This year ItalianFest started charging at 3:30 instead of 5:00.  I needed to go from City Centre One bldg to First National Bank(for business) before they closed at 4:00.  ItalianFest insisted I pay the entrance fee to get through to go to the bank.