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
