Aldermen Say Brazilian Day Event Was 'Loud' and 'Disruptive'

Note: An earlier version of this article said there was a "breakdown in the communication process" with the planning board. The alleged commnication breakdown referred to by the aldermen was with the Somerville Licensing Commission. The mistake was inadvertent and is corrected below. 

Aldermen said a Brazilian Day event held at the Holiday Inn in East Somerville on Sept. 23, an event that attracted thousands of people, was loud and disruptive.

What's more, they say had they known about the event ahead of time, they would have opposed it because it has a bad history.

Ward 1 Aldermen William Roche, speaking at the Somerville Board of Aldermen meeting on Sept. 27, said the event "created quite a disruption in the quality of life."

It was "loud," the alderman said, and "literally thousands of people" attended.

Alderman At-Large Dennis Sullivan was also upset about the event. "I received a lot of calls on Sunday," he said. For some people "pictures [were] rattling on the walls," and one man took the glasses out of his cupboard so they wouldn't break, the alderman said about the noise.

"Over 4000  people were at that event … and to hold it right next to a senior center," Sullivan said, after noting, "I'm furious" and "this cannot happen again."

Sullivan and Roche said the same event was held three years ago, and the neighborhood complained about people urinating between cars and, in Sullivan's words, "yelling and screaming." At the time, the aldermen vowed to prevent the event from happening again, they said.

They said there was a breakdown in the communication process with the Somerville Licensing Commission, which granted an event permit for Brazilian Day in August, though aldermen didn't know it was on the agenda.

According to a booking log provided by the Somerville Police Department, two people were arrested at the event and charged with disorderly conduct. One of the arrests was of a 39-year-old Lowell man who allegedly tried to cut a long line of people waiting to use portable toilets and who then allegedly became unruly, according to a police report. The report says the event had an estimated 3000 in attendance.