BY SCOTT STIFFLER

Sunday, June 30 will see the end of an especially robust LGBTQ+ Pride Month, with NYC having spent all of June anticipating the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, while welcoming an influx of global guests, drawn to the city by WorldPride. (The “Olympics of Pride,” it’s being held in the U.S. for the first time.)

But before Pride 2019 is consigned to history, a Pride March of historic proportion will conclude at Seventh Ave. and W. 23rd St. An estimated 150,000 marchers are expected, with spectators numbering in the millions. And although they’re not likely to find themselves in our neighborhood all at once, it may well seem like it.

With that in mind, residents within the March’s route and dispersal area should be mindful of this information, provided by the NYPD’s 13th Precinct: On the day of the event, crosstown traffic will be closed from 7am to the late evening, from 14th to 30th Sts., btw. Fifth and Seventh Aves. Pedestrian crossing will be available on Fifth and Seventh Aves., at 14th, 17th, 21st, and 23rd Sts.—and on Sixth Ave., at 14th and 23rd Sts. There will be no parking, east and west of the route.

An information sheet distributed by March organizers Heritage of Pride (aka NYC Pride), who also provided the formation, route, and dispersal maps you see throughout this article, notes the following tips for residents:

–Traffic closures on affected streets will begin at approximately 4am.

–Pedestrian closures will begin at approximately 4am.

–Residents should try and have a picture ID or piece of mail 
showing their address. If no ID is available, one of the 
officers on that post will escort them to the residence.

–Residents expecting visitors should make sure their guests know the address and phone number of the party they are 
visiting.

–All food deliveries will be allowed.

–Any resident or visitor that has any special requirements, please see any Officer on the corner for assistance.

–There will be barricades at every block

–Only marchers and vehicles (with permits) would be allowed at 
the above streets and on the route [a reference to the dispersal area blocks].

“Everything is subject to crowd control. We estimate 2-4 million additional visitors for WorldPride,” said Captain Kevin J. Coleman, Commanding Officer, 10th Precinct, in a June 27 statement to Chelsea Community News. “The NYPD and the 10th Precinct will have an enormous amount of resources to keep everyone safe.”

Coleman also echoed HOP’s advice to residents, noting, “We recommend carrying proof of residency if you live on blocks surrounding the parade route,” or, if a guest, “invitations that indicate they are visiting locations on the dispersal blocks.”

At the Wed., May 29 meeting of the 10th Precinct Community Council, HOP event coordinators Julian Sanjivan and Zoe Gorringe spoke at length about the scope, and logistics, of their June 30 March—which, they noted, was anticipating 150 floats, 200 vehicles, and 734 groups.

Unlike 2018, Chelsea side streets will not be used as staging areas, since this year’s March will begin in the Madison Square Park area—then make its way down Fifth Ave., into the Village past the Stonewall Inn, then up Seventh Ave., to the route’s end point at W. 23rd St.

Julian noted HOP volunteers will arrive in those staging areas (W. 26th to 30th Sts., from Sixth to Park Aves.) as early as 5am on the day of the March, which begins at noon. The final marchers are expected to arrive in Chelsea between 11pm and midnight, at which point floats and vehicles will be directed to dispersal area blocks: West 24th to 29th Sts., between Sixth and Eighth Aves.

Locals are hoping March organizers Heritage of Pride (HOP, aka NYC Pride) will improve upon the 2018 March—which saw Chelsea side streets used as staging areas, much to the consternation of residents.

In a February 2019 article by this reporter, 100 West 16th Street Block Association president Paul Groncki told amNewYork that despite HOP assurances that crowds would clear the staging areas by late afternoon, and that amplified sound would be limited, “It was just oppressively loud, all day long. The music and shouting didn’t stop, and they were on those blocks until 7 or 8 in the evening.”

In that same article, HOP media director James Fallarino said, of noise complaints and the lingering presence of police barricades and portable toilets, HOP noted “lessons learned” and vowed, “We want to make sure that when we end the [2019] march, all remnants of it are gone by the next day.”

Sanjivan and Gorringe also stressed, at the May 29 Community Council meeting, that there will be HOP volunteers in the Chelsea area, to ensure groups moving into the dispersal areas do just that—break down their floats, and disperse.

“Last year, the organizers did not engage CCBA [the Council of Chelsea Block Associations] or CB4 [Community Board 4] about the March, or route change, until just before the March—and it was too late to make any changes. It was terrible for residents, with no community input,” said Inge Ivchenko, President, London Terrace Tenants Association.

This year, HOP noted at the Community Council meeting, their outreach to CB4 and the CCBA began once the parade route was confirmed, and they were about to begin a second round of community engagement, by speaking with residents and business owners about what to expect on June 30.

“They presented the newest route [to the CCBA], and it remains to be seen, with what they say about ‘keeping 23rd Street open.’ I just don’t see how that is possible, with millions of people expected to dump two blocks above 23rd,” Ivchenko said. “The Selis Manor [for the blind, on W. 23rd St. btw. Sixth & Seventh Aves.] director was notified, per [NYC Council Speaker and District 3 rep Corey Johnson] Corey’s office, and they told us she said it would not pose a problem for their residents. That also awaits a reality check after the March. Access-A-Rides come and go there all day, and handicapped and blind residents walk their service dogs right in that area.”

The HOP info sheet noted that for Access-A-Ride patrons, the “NYPD can either escort [the] vehicle to the 
entrance of the apartment or walk the person to the corner of the street.”

“It’s going to be inconvenient” for Chelsea residents, Sanjivan acknowledged, of what will be remembered as “a massive human rights event.”

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