August 23, 2007
Who Should Pay for Security at the Gay Pride Festival?
The Examiner reports on a $36,000 bill received by the organizers of the 2007 Capital Pride Festival from the D.C. police and the Emergency Management Agency, who say they need the money to pay for overtime and other costs for security incurred during the June festival. But the festival's organizers and some members of the D.C. Council are questioning the charges, since the agencies waived these same fees last year and other annual parades, like this year's Eastern Market Day parade, have also had their security fees waived.
Emergency Management spokeswoman Jo’Ellen Gray Countee told the paper that the event organizers only requested a waiver for the parade this year, and not the festival as a whole, which resulted in more than $18,000 having already been waived. Ultimately it is up to the agency to decide whether to waive these kinds of fees.
Does it seem fair to bill the organizers of Pride events for police security? According to their web site, Capital Pride's sponsors include Capital Area Interweave, The Center, DC Black Pride, DC Radical Faeries, Dignity/Washington, Gay Men's Chorus of Washington, Human Rights Campaign, The Mautner Project, Metro DC PFLAG, National Youth Advocacy Coalition, Northern Virginia AIDS Ministry, One in Ten, Westminster Presbyterian Church (DC) and the Whitman-Walker Clinic, though it's unclear which organizations might actually be responsible for the bill in total should they be forced to pay it. The Whitman-Walker Clinic is the main sponsor of the parade.
Photo by EvinDC
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How much are they charging for the Right to Life march? Because I need to budget for this huge poster of an abortion in a trashcan.
Funny, I don't remember the "right to peaceably assemble" having a "if you can afford to pay for security" clause.
Let's stop paying for security every time Bush and Dick need to motorcade to and fro. Then we can probably have pride day every day.
#2, it's really insane how blatantly local governments in this country are trampling on citizen's rights in the name of "orderliness". In new york city any gathering of 20 people going anywhere for anything is a "parade" and needs to have a permit. So critical mass bike riders are arressted for just riding bikes together (just for being together, not for running lights, etc) and black youths in brooklyn are arrested for walking to a funeral.
How much are they charging for the Right to Life march? Because I need to budget for this huge poster of an abortion in a trashcan.
Indeed, those motherless pieces of trash were protesting right next door to BabyRat's day care center a couple of weeks ago.
Of course it should be waived!... upon proper request by the organizers. Read carefully... Emergency Management received a request to waive for the parade, which they did. Looks like someone forgot they needed to ask about a waiver for the festival, and perhaps EM figured the festival sponsors were covering that part of the cost, for whatever reason.
Sounds to me like a nice letter asking for a retroactive waiver would be all it takes to smooth this over...
-AJP
Funny, I don't remember the "right to peaceably assemble" having a "if you can afford to pay for security" clause.
I'm not sure that the right to peaceably assemble includes corresponding rights to street closures for an all-day festival, barricades, extra officers working security, etc. Does Taste of DC get Emergency Services support without paying for it?
Mayor Fenty should pay for it. It would be the right thing to do.
Funny, I don't remember the "right to peaceably assemble" having a "if you can afford to pay for security" clause.
That's funny, because I don't remember the "right to peaceably assemble" also including attendant rights to street closings, barricades, extra police presence for security purposes, etc. Does Taste of DC get EM coverage without paying for it, or even submitting the required waiver requests?
In order to avoid claims of favoritism and bigotry, this seems like something on which the city should adopt a clear and consistent policy. My personal vote would be for near-automatic granting of the waiver for parade/march-type events, and near-automatic denial of the waiver for street festival events.
Who should pay?
Well the gay people should pay with 10% kicked in by the transgendered. They are a very warlike people and can not be trusted to behave.
So for next year's anti-globalization protest, can we send the security bill to the World Bank and Mobilization for Global Justice?
"My personal vote would be for near-automatic granting of the waiver for parade/march-type events, and near-automatic denial of the waiver for street festival events."
Near-automatic? That doesn't sound very clear and consistent.
But isn't there a benefit to the community from both types of events? In fact, don't most of our marches consist of people who aren't residents of the area, and most of the festivals consist of locals? The Pride festival may be a notable exception, but Nate, if you go for a "near-automatic denial" of the waiver for street festival events, you're basically saying that events for taxpaying residents will have a barrier that events for out of towners won't. That doesn't sound very fair to me, at least.
Wasn't the District's Gay Tax intended to be used for taking care of such expenses? Hmmmm, I wonder where that money is being spent.
I don't think that parades and marches are automatically "events for out of towners," especially things like the Gay Pride Parade, or the Caribbean Day Parade. I just think they're a different animal than a festival which closes down a public thoroughfare for a whole day, generally to offer a lot of retail and food-buying opportunities. Festival events are ideally constituted to raise funds to cover exactly this kind of expense ... if you need to raise more for security, you just charge more for your booths/tables/whatever, or for your corporate sponsorships. Even long parades rarely close down a street for more than a few hours, and it's not standard practice to charge marchers to participate in them.
Admittedly, "near-automatic" does sound vague and imprecise, but I guess I thought it would be hasty to go all the way to "automatic" . . . surely there would be SOME specific circumstances where groups would still be expected to pay up (i.e., a corporation like the Nationals wants to hold a ticker tape parade but not pay for it).
I have pretty extensive experience dealing with these kinds of demonstrations, street fairs, parades and whatnot for another (larger) city from the police side.
No, it is not fair to charge this event if the fee is being waived for any other.
That said, every last major event should be forced to pay these fees and obtain insurance.
The MPD does not have the budget for adequate overtime for all of this, nor the budget to adequately police everything else in the city the rest of the time.
So if you want to hold an outdoor event using public property and requiring some extensive police presence that is regulatable, than hell yeah you should have to pay for it. But not with some exceptions for pro-life or pro-choice or straight or gay or black, white, hispanic or anybody. No exceptions.
Because that exception (or all the exceptions) are keeping police patrols out of your DC neighborhood.
#6 - My understanding is that Whitman Walker, who runs the Capitol Pride show, didn't ask for a waiver because they were told that one would not be granted. That doesn't excuse not asking (I mean, what's the harm, that you spent an extra 10 minutes filling out a form?), but it's a bit two-faced for the EMA to discourage them to file and then turn around and say they didn't give it because the clinic didn't file.
There is ABSOLUTELY no way that taxpayers should pay for this. I feel the same way about any parade. This type of event requires increased security - and thus the costs should be incurred by the organizer. Just as a basketball game or a concert require additional security - which is paid for by the organizer. It's a simple solution........
I already pay a gay tax, in that I pay the same taxes as you straighties, but I don't get 1000 or so of the benefits you get when you marry. And a lot of those benefits add up to huge money.
And don't even get me started on me paying for your little ankle-biters' schools, playgrounds, parole officers, etc.
So I say I deserve some freebies thrown my way once in a while.
But DC's Pride Festival is sortof lame (what with all the stupid standing in line to get a ticket to stand in another line for beer, and the freakin' awful stereotypical crap music), especially compared to Baltimore's, which is quite the spectacle. You haven't lived if you haven't tailgated in the parking lot with the Charm City lesbians. The Indigo Girls B-Sides and Rarities sound surprisingly good after a whole lot of cheap American beer.
So how about DC govt just pays for all us mos to have a limousine service to Baltimore's gay pride. Then we'll all be happier.
Can't they raise the money by selling fabulous designer sunglasses, or maybe a to-die-for little vest with a commemorative patch, something that works with tight jeans or leather pants?
Straight people can pay for gay pride. I pay for DC public schools and they're not even half as well attended as gay pride.
How about any parade held outside the inner-federal core be paid for by the DC Government, and every parade within the federal core be paid for by the federal government. It's the federal government that they're here for, make it pay for it.
I'm more of the opinion that festivals should be paid for by the city. That's not to say that it should be paid for out of the MPD budget, but festivals, etc., are part of what makes living in a city interesting. We should pay for it. Besides, these festivals surely contribute to sales tax revenues.
As someone who represented a DC member agency at Special Events Task Force meetings in years past, let me emphasize that every single organization holding a parade, festival or fish-fry wants a waiver, and many ask for it after the event, trying to weasel out of their contract with the city.
Most events that get waivers do so in response to heavy-handed political pressure from Council, Cabinet, or the Mayor's Office.
Best policy: absolutely positively no waivers for any single event. If organizers can't afford to pay for security and clean-up, they can't afford to stage the event. No exceptions. Ever.
No organization should get their security fees waived. The police in this city have enough to deal with as it is, they shouldn’t be forced to provide free security to private organizations!
This is a community event. Much of it is held in and involves members of DC neighborhoods. It's not some lame-assed national protest/march/event. It really is a local thing- albeit one big enough to draw a broader crowd. Think of it as a rolling block party with flair.
Since both ANC 2B and 2F (Dupont and Logan) have pretty much consistantly supported it, I think DC should too.
If your community/block through a party, would you want to be charged?
Homer: “Bear Tax? Let the bears pay the bear tax. I pay the Homo tax!”
Lisa: “Dad, that’s the home owner’s tax”
I don't think people who choose to live in Arlington should be able to vote in the survey.