Call To Action: NYC Pridefest Cancelled by New York City Permit Denial Please send messages to Mayor Bloomberg and other elected officials and protest the cancellation of Pridefest, a centerpiece of Gay Pride in New York City! The city called this a new event, and denied the permit, when it was simply a change of location for an established and much loved Pride event. -Tommy For News After you send your messages, pass this on. PRIDEfest, the street fair that typically follows the annual Gay Pride Parade, has been canceled this year because the city denied the event a permit at a new site, organizers said yesterday. Heritage of Pride, which runs the festival, had wanted to move the event from the West Village to Chelsea and hold it June 23, the day before the parade. But PRIDEfest organizers were mystified by the city's decision, noting that there were already twice as many street events planned for the day of the parade, June 24, than for the day before. "The police excuse is bogus. It doesn't make sense," said Phil Mannino, co-chairman of the event. "Until they can provide me with logical reasons as to why they're not giving us Saturday, then I'm not going to believe their excuses." In December, organizers requested approval to move the festival from Greenwich and Washington Sts. to Eighth Ave. in Chelsea because the streets in the West Village are too narrow to accommodate the approximately 300,000 people expected to attend the street fair, which has been held for the past 14 years. More: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2007/05/13/2007-05-13_pridefest_put_to_rest_as_city_nixes_new_-1.html You can get contactinformation through this website: www.congress.org You can use this linkto send a message to Mayor Bloomberg: http://www.nyc.gov/portal/site/nycgov/menuitem.bd08ee7c7c1ffec87c4b36d501c789a0/index.jsp?doc_name=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nyc.gov%2Fhtml%2Fmail%2Fhtml%2Fmayor.html Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg City Hall New York, NY 10007 PHONE 311 (or 212-NEW-YORK outside NYC) FAX (212) 788-8123 E-MAIL: http://www.nyc.gov/html/mail/html/mayor.html Other NYC Officials: http://www.nyc.gov/portal/site/nycgov/menuitem.047d873163b300bc6c4451f401c789a0/index.jsp?doc_name=/html/mail/html/appoint.html Heritage of Pride Announcement: http://www.hopinc.org/media/NYCDeniesPrideEventPermit-Update.pdf Other Pride events still scheduled: http://www.nycpride.org/home/