Bill to force city to cover parade-policing is vetoed

Mayor Nutter on Thursday vetoed a City Council bill that would have forced the city to cover the cost of policing community and ethnic parades.

In his veto message to Council, Nutter said Councilwoman Maria Quiñones Sánchez's bill would have meant more than $2 million in 2009 costs because it was "incredibly" retroactive to last year.

"I fully realize that parades and street festivals are important celebrations of civic pride and that many of them are long-standing traditions woven into our community fabric," Nutter wrote. "But we simply do not have the financial ability to continue to subsidize all of the additional public-safety costs."

Council is not expected to hold an override vote Friday. Instead, Sánchez will meet with the administration next week in search of a compromise. - Jeff Shields