City Takes Over Cinco de Mayo Fest : Celebration: Parks panel objects to commercialization of historic-cultural event by private promoter.

Yielding to concerns that Ninja Turtles and product giveaways have cheapened and commercialized Los Angeles’ annual Cinco de Mayo celebration, the city’s Recreation and Parks Commission on Monday voted to take over the Olvera Street festivities this year.

The decision came after a chaotic City Hall session in which 60 members of the Olvera Street Merchants Assn.--which wants to control the celebration itself--disrupted the meeting by clapping loudly in unison, forcing commissioners to yell above the din.

Before the commission voted 5 to 0 to take over the event, association spokeswoman Vivien Bonzo angrily charged that the private promoter who has put on the celebration since 1985 had fostered a “carnival-like atmosphere” featuring Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and giveaways of cigarettes, diapers and boxes of macaroni and cheese.

“We would have emphasized the cultural and historical aspects of the celebration instead of prostituting it through commercial ventures,” Bonzo said. “What is the relationship between Ninja Turtles and an important historic moment in Mexican history?”

Fernando Favela, a spokesman for the promoter, Riverside Promotions, refused to comment on her charges or on the commission’s action.

Although Bonzo said her group’s objections to Riverside Promotion’s handling of the event are aesthetic and cultural, she acknowledged an economic motive as well. Local merchants have complained that the 100 food and merchandise booths brought in by the promoter each year have siphoned business from Olvera Street shops and restaurants.

The association, Bonzo said, wanted control of the event to ensure that it imparted “the Mexican culture and heritage to the community.”

The association had submitted a losing bid to celebrate the Mexican national holiday with a theatrical re-creation of the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862, when Mexican troops fought off a French expeditionary force headed for Mexico City.

Commission President Stan Sanders argued that the association should not have the exclusive right to “judge how Cinco de Mayo should be celebrated.”

Saying “controversy over this issue precludes us from letting a contract for this event,” Sanders introduced the motion to allow the city to run it this year.

Commissioner Richard Riordan suggested that a committee of merchants, residents and city officials be formed to advise the department on historical and cultural matters. He also recommended that the city hire a private event coordinator.

The commission also called for an audit of Riverside Promotions, which has not been required to report gross revenues in past years.

But the merchants’ group was not satisfied, and vowed to hold its own Cinco de Mayo celebration.