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Unlike cities such as Philadelphia, D.C. has no plans to charge higher fees this year for street closings, police overtime and ambulance services associated with the annual Gay Pride parade and festival. (Blade file photo by Henry Linser)
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HOME > NEWS > LOCAL
By: Lou Chibbaro Jr. COMMENTS
 
Unlike other cities, the D.C. government has no immediate plans to charge higher fees this year for street closings, police overtime and ambulance services associated with the city’s Gay Pride parade and festival, Capital Pride director Dyana Mason said Wednesday.
Philadelphia recently slapped that city’s Pride festival with a $17,000 fee for police and street closing services, according to an Associated Press report. Pride festival organizers in New York, Boston, Detroit, and some locations in New Jersey have reported being hit with similar high fees, the AP reports.
The fee hikes are said to be due to a drop in cities’ revenue because of the nation’s economic downturn. With little or no funds to subsidize the costs for accommodating street festivals and parades by all groups, not just Gay Pride events, the cities are beginning to bill the festivals for the costs, the AP reports.
“So far, the fees are what we expected and what we budgeted for,” said Mason, in discussing D.C.’s Capital Pride parade and festival set for June 13-14. The Capital Pride festival is held each year on Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., near the U.S. Capitol.
Mason said that, similar to past years, Capital Pride has applied for reimbursement of police and street closing costs through a grant program offered by the D.C. Homeland Security & Emergency Management Agency. She said the agency usually notifies Capital Pride about the approval of the grants during the week before the parade and festival.
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