With PRIDEfest Canceled, No Clear Plan
Tens of thousands of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered celebrants will arrive in the West Village at the end of this year's June 24 Pride March to find no festival, no vendors selling food or water, and no entertainment and Heritage of Pride (HOP), the group that produces the city's annual pride events, and the police believe that will not create problems.
"We're actually hoping that everything will be fine," Dennis Spafford, HOP's media director, said following a May 23 town meeting.
In late 2006, HOP sought to move the festival that follows the Pride March from June 24 to June 23 and from the West Village to Chelsea. Believing that the city would approve a permit for the move, the non-profit group made no plans for holding the festival in the Village, as it has done for the past 15 years.
The city denied HOP a permit for the new location and date on April 27, just two months before the event, leaving HOP with insufficient time to produce an alternative event. The festival was cancelled on May 11.
"I and the other 17 members of the PRIDEfest committee regret that there won't be a PRIDEfest this year," said Brian O'Dell, the committee's director, at the town meeting.
HOP sought to move to Chelsea and to the day before the annual march because of complaints about the West Village location being crowded, inaccessible to the disabled, and unwelcoming to seniors, children, and families. Additionally, many community groups stopped participating in the festival because their volunteers were exhausted following the march and they could not staff booths.
"PRIDEfest this year was an event that HOP members were finally proud to be involved in," O'Dell said.
With new vendors, more community groups, and designated spaces for children and youth the festival would have been "unlike and better than any of the other 366 street fairs in this city," O'Dell said.
There was some criticism of HOP's effort to move the festival during the town meeting.
"I think it is such arrogance that you had made this decision for hundreds of thousands of us," said one woman during the meeting.
But a major concern was what will those thousands of marchers do when they arrive in the West Village. Another woman said they will not just go home.
"You know that's not going to happen, so what's going to happen?" she asked. "To me, that's a big issue."
A third woman said, "When you finish the float everybody is looking for things to do."
The police department appears to have not considered the changed circumstances that will accompany the end of the march. Detective Thomas Verni, the department's citywide LGBT community liaison, said the department expected people would simply leave.
"My guess would be that since there is no fair a lot of people would stick around for a while and then leave," he said. "That's what we're anticipating."
Verni was accompanied by a second officer from the Community Affairs Bureau and Officer Tim Duffy from the West Village's Sixth Precinct. Verni said the police would remain in the West Village until the crowd dispersed.
"There is no intent for the police department to clear the streets," Verni said.
Duffy said the department had a plan for the event. "Our plan is to have a safe day for everybody," he said.
HOP is seeking, and may yet obtain, the old street fair permit that it has used to mount earlier West Village festivals. If it gets that permit, however, any event that it produces will be "a condensed version of the festival," said Phil Mannino, an HOP co-chair. "It would only be a limited amount, maybe 20 vendors," he said.
"Our hope is if we get this permit people aren't going to be pushed out of the West Village," O'Dell said.
Andrew Velez, a longtime gay and AIDS activist, pressed the HOP representatives to have some sort of event following the march, but after the meeting he said that the group was unresponsive.
"There's no will to absolutely have that event on Sunday and as far as I'm concerned the intent to have that event on Saturday was totally ill-conceived," he said.
Tens of thousands of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered celebrants will arrive in the West Village at the end of this year's June 24 Pride March to find no festival, no vendors selling food or water, and no entertainment and Heritage of Pride (HOP), the group that produces the city's annual pride events, and the police believe that will not create problems.
"We're actually hoping that everything will be fine," Dennis Spafford, HOP's media director, said following a May 23 town meeting.
In late 2006, HOP sought to move the festival that follows the Pride March from June 24 to June 23 and from the West Village to Chelsea. Believing that the city would approve a permit for the move, the non-profit group made no plans for holding the festival in the Village, as it has done for the past 15 years.
The city denied HOP a permit for the new location and date on April 27, just two months before the event, leaving HOP with insufficient time to produce an alternative event. The festival was cancelled on May 11.
"I and the other 17 members of the PRIDEfest committee regret that there won't be a PRIDEfest this year," said Brian O'Dell, the committee's director, at the town meeting.
HOP sought to move to Chelsea and to the day before the annual march because of complaints about the West Village location being crowded, inaccessible to the disabled, and unwelcoming to seniors, children, and families. Additionally, many community groups stopped participating in the festival because their volunteers were exhausted following the march and they could not staff booths.
"PRIDEfest this year was an event that HOP members were finally proud to be involved in," O'Dell said.
With new vendors, more community groups, and designated spaces for children and youth the festival would have been "unlike and better than any of the other 366 street fairs in this city," O'Dell said.
There was some criticism of HOP's effort to move the festival during the town meeting.
"I think it is such arrogance that you had made this decision for hundreds of thousands of us," said one woman during the meeting.
But a major concern was what will those thousands of marchers do when they arrive in the West Village. Another woman said they will not just go home.
"You know that's not going to happen, so what's going to happen?" she asked. "To me, that's a big issue."
A third woman said, "When you finish the float everybody is looking for things to do."
The police department appears to have not considered the changed circumstances that will accompany the end of the march. Detective Thomas Verni, the department's citywide LGBT community liaison, said the department expected people would simply leave.
"My guess would be that since there is no fair a lot of people would stick around for a while and then leave," he said. "That's what we're anticipating."
Verni was accompanied by a second officer from the Community Affairs Bureau and Officer Tim Duffy from the West Village's Sixth Precinct. Verni said the police would remain in the West Village until the crowd dispersed.
"There is no intent for the police department to clear the streets," Verni said.
Duffy said the department had a plan for the event. "Our plan is to have a safe day for everybody," he said.
HOP is seeking, and may yet obtain, the old street fair permit that it has used to mount earlier West Village festivals. If it gets that permit, however, any event that it produces will be "a condensed version of the festival," said Phil Mannino, an HOP co-chair. "It would only be a limited amount, maybe 20 vendors," he said.
"Our hope is if we get this permit people aren't going to be pushed out of the West Village," O'Dell said.
Andrew Velez, a longtime gay and AIDS activist, pressed the HOP representatives to have some sort of event following the march, but after the meeting he said that the group was unresponsive.
"There's no will to absolutely have that event on Sunday and as far as I'm concerned the intent to have that event on Saturday was totally ill-conceived," he said.