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Tuesday, May 7, 2024
Volume 162 No. 41 SERVING SAN JOSÉ STATE UNIVERSITY SINCE 1934
WWW.SJSUNEWS.COM/SPARTAN_DAILY
ALINA TA | SPARTAN DAILY
An off-white lowrider with a Mexican flag flying out of the window drives down Fourth Street and Reed Street past an SJPD police blockade on Sunday night during Cinco de Mayo.
SJPD blocks Cinco De Mayo traffic By Alina Ta & Melany Gutierrez EXECUTIVE EDITOR & MANAGING EDITOR
Multiple community members and visitors were stuck in traffic after police officers from the San José Police Department (SJPD) blocked off half a dozen streets around San José to control traffic on Sunday during Cinco de Mayo. Between mid-afternoon and the late evening hours on Sunday, SJPD police officers blocked different streets during different parts of the day, according to a map from SJPD’s April 5 media advisory. During night time, police officers gave hand signals to direct traffic and talked to drivers on
the side of the road. Jacqueline Gonzalez, a resident of the Bay Area, said she was just trying to make it to her destination and feels it’s unreasonable to block the roads. Gonzalez said she saw police officers asking for IDs from drivers and passengers, and said that she thinks it’s a little too extra. “We (she and her friends) were saying what if we just say that we live here and then so we could go through (the road blockades),” Gonzalez said. She said there was no announcement ahead of time of the road blockades. On April 5, SJPD announced that it would “deploy additional personnel and resources to ensure public safety” and to block different
streets in San José during the Cinco de Mayo weekend, according to its media advisory. The purpose of the road closures is to ensure community members and visitors can celebrate during the holiday weekend safely, according to the same media advisory. SJPD stated in the advisory that “street diversions will only occur when it is deemed necessary” to lessen and ease traffic in areas that have more pedestrian and vehicular traffic. Every effort was expected to be made to allow residents living in or near blocked areas affected by the road closures to leave and return to their homes “without unreasonable delay,” according to the
ALINA TA | SPARTAN DAILY
A black SUV drives with the Mexican national flag and the United Farm Workers Union flag passes San Jose Police Department car parked one block away from SJSU.
same advisory. The streets that were closed off between 7 a.m. and midnight were East Santa Clara Street, South Market Street and South King Road, according to the same map from SJPD.
10 p.m. She said some of the police officers directing traffic were helpful, but some were dismissive. “(They) just kind of wanted traffic to keep going even though I was
me it's not fair,” she said. “If you're just not cautious about Chicano culture, then I could see how it's scary, but for people that are cautious about our culture, it's not scary at all.”
If you're just not cautious about Chicano culture, then I could see how it's scary, but for people that are cautious about our culture, it's not scary at all. Monica Sánchez San José resident for three years
San José resident Carlos Alexander Mejiá Alfaro said his car was parked near the Spartan Gas Station, which is one block away from San José State University. “My car is over there, I’ve been trying to talk to the police to see if he will let me go get it but he doesn’t speak Spanish,” Alfaro said in Spanish. Alondra Ramirez, a resident in Downtown San José, felt stressed from the blockades. Ramirez said she spent over 30 minutes trying to find her way home. She said the police are more active on Cinco de Mayo because more people want to socialize on the streets and race, but she doesn’t think it’s that big of a deal. Monica Sánchez said she is from East Los Angeles, but has been living in San José for three years. Sánchez said she lives on one of the blocked streets and was still unable to go home at around
trying to explain to them that I live in the city, in the area that they’re closing down,” she said. “So yeah, it can be inconvenient.” Sánchez, who is Mexican American, said she thinks holidays that represent certain marginalized groups, like Cinco de Mayo, are targeted by the police. Sánchez said she is from Puebla, the city in Mexico where Cinco de Mayo is traditionally celebrated. Puebla is the city where the holiday originates from, according to a May 5, 2022 article by The New York Times. Cinco de Mayo also honors and remembers Mexico’s victory over France in the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862, according to the same article. “For me to see people that just celebrated to get drunk, even that's a little annoying, but to even have just law enforcement kind of prevent people from celebrating that I mean, that's a little – for
San José resident Mariana Sandoval said she thinks SJPD overdid it this year and that people are still going to behave the same way regardless of the increase in police presence. “Since 2020 if anything they've been more stricter on it and you know, kicking everybody off the streets and . . . moving them to a different place,” Sandoval said. Marvin Peraza, an aviation sophomore at SJSU, said he wasn’t annoyed by the road blockades. Peraza said he feels the police are trying to keep people safe, including from drivers who may be under the influence. “It's like a sense of community, just like to block the streets,” Peraza said. “Just like everyone came out and just, like, vibed together.” Follow Alina on X (formerly Twitter) @HiJustCurious