Raleigh city staff is now entering Year 2 of not knowing how to allow a real parade — that is, a parade like those held in every major city in America.
Not only do we not have anything concrete from the City Manager, she doesn’t even have a timeline for bringing something forward for Council to consider. Meanwhile, our parades are limited to walkers and horse-drawn wagons.
Raleigh’s CBS 17 reported “City of Raleigh lifts pause on new applications for parades” .
Included at the end of the story is this from City Staff:
“City staff let parade organizers know they do not have a definitive timeline, but also said over the next weeks and months that they plan to work to produce and revise safety guidelines and protocols. They said the aim is ‘to facilitate the eventual resumption of ‘traditional’ parades.'”
When we read this it struck us as odd. That’s because we are aware of two previous statements professing an actual timeline. One from Mayor Pro Tem Jonathan Melton and one from the City Manager, Marchell Adams-David.
Melton published a statement about the updating of the application process in his October Newsletter shown below:
Click on the image to view the full newsletter
At the November 7, 2023 City Council meeting. Adams-David made a public statement expressing how and when the parade protocols would be updated. We reported this at the time with The Christmas Parade that should have been, noting that had the steps outlined been taken a year ago, we could have had a normal parade season for 2023. An excerpt is below:
Click on the image to read our full report
You can watch Adams-David’s full statement in this recording from the City Council meeting:
It is quite clear when you compare what Melton and Adams-David said previously that despite what city staff said to CBS 17 now about there being no timeline, there actually was a timeline and it has fallen by the wayside.
We have an official statement from the organizers of the St. Patrick’s Day parade that the city will NOT ALLOW them to have motorized vehcles this year. So, Adams-David has failed in her goal to return to normal parades with St. Patrick’s Day. Raleigh St. Patrick’s Day Parade 2024
One has to wonder how Adams-David was able to command a 10% raise for a second year, double what most city workers got. Read our report on the raise here: Raleigh City Manager receives whopping 10% pay increase.
Livable Raleigh Editorial Team
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