As longtime fans and recent participants in the annual Wallingford Kiddie Parade, we were relieved to learn Friday that the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) has reconsidered plans to cut funding for traffic control devices for all community parades.
Last week, SDOT had told Wallingford Neighborhood Office Director Janet Stillman that because of budget cuts “SDOT will no longer be able to provide any of the temporary parking restriction signs or traffic control devices (such as “Street Closed” signs) for community parades.”
This news came as a shock to Stillman, who organizes the parade, which is now in its 61st consecutive year. She fired back a strongly worded response, and yesterday heard from SDOT Director Peter Hahn that he’d reconsidered the decision based on the response from Stillman and other Seattle event organizers. But there’s this caveat: “We think it is better and timelier to have this kind of policy discussion as part of the careful deliberations of the 2011 budget.”
When we asked Stillman about next year’s parade, she said, “I’ll worry about next year when this year’s parade is over.” The Kiddie Parade is July 10.
Full disclosure: MyWallingford is a sponsor of the Wallingford Kiddie Parade.
