Additional funding for Monday’s Martin Luther King Jr. parade has been secured, according to one administration official.
“The parade and celebration will be funded,” said Chris Hand, Mayor Alvin Brown’s chief of staff. He did not elaborate on the funding source.
Funding for events associated with the parade has been in question, although organizers said the parade itself will take place.
Legislation sponsored by City Council member Reggie Brown to further fund the events with $29,950 from a special Council contingency fund was rejected in one Council committee and deadlocked in two others last week and was not discharged Tuesday night after Brown waived the vote, believing he had secured private funding.
He said after the meeting that a $4,000 donation from Allied Veterans of the World Inc. & Affiliates, $5,000 of waived fees by the City and $5,000 of advertising assistance from the City’s Special Events Department lowered the needed funds to $16,000, which he thought was secured from a private donor.
The private donation, though, turned out to be a “giant misunderstanding,” said Emily Wilcox, whom the Council member thought had donated the money.
Wilcox said Tuesday evening she had seen TV reports about the funding efforts and was interested in finding out how and where to potentially donate with assistance from her husband’s employer.
“He is doing a great thing,” Wilcox said of Council member Brown. “It was just a big misunderstanding.”
Brown learned of the misunderstanding from a reporter after the meeting. Brown said he still believed the funding would be secured and said the bigger picture was to ensure that all national holiday parades received equal treatment financially by the City.
“I don’t think we should be picking and choosing,” he said. “I think it should have been in the budget.”
Brown said he will advocate for the parade to be included in the 2012-13 City budget and beyond.
The additional funds would benefit the parade and its surrounding events, Martin Luther King Jr. Foundation principal Gary Thomas said last week. He said that the parade, which is organized by the foundation, would be held without City money.
The mayor would not elaborate Tuesday about the amount or sources of funds he has raised privately since saying last week he would undertake the effort.
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