Fundraising efforts underway for parades
Monday, December 28th, 2009
Preserving some Philadelphia traditions… that's the goal of a new fundraising effort being proposed.
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Congressman Bob Brady is using the working title of Philadelphia Traditions Fund for the pool of money that would be collected to help keep traditonal events alive in the city. The money would be solicited from businesses to preserve events such as the Mummers Parade, which has been struggling to cover costs because of the city budget problems. Councilman Frank Rizzo is a big supporter of the parades that make up the city's heritage.
Rizzo: I was getting concerned that'd be were starting to lose a very important part of our fabric here, part of our city. I just look forward to the Polaski Day Parade, the Puerto Rican Day parade, we all know what happened to the Columbus Day Parade, and who knows if we had this we might have had a Columbus Day Parade.
How the money will be collected or handed out is still in the works, but Congressman Brady has been a big fund-raiser, and kept the Mummers strutting last year by getting some last-minute financing.
I think it is shameful that as of drive-time this morning, WHYY-FM had not reported on the passing of Peggy Amsterdam, one of Philadelphia's cultural pillars. I was disgusted to hear the local morning segments lead with the above puff story about politicians trying to raise money for parades, while the death of someone so significant to culture in our city went ignored. The irony was galling.
WHYY has really done its listeners a disservice by slighting this important story. How can a news operation that purports to be in tune with the arts sector drop the ball on this?