Posted on: Friday, October 11, 2002

Sponsors step in to save toy-drive parades

By Rod Ohira
Advertiser Staff Writer

A local auto business will pay a $3,000 city fee and sponsor the 25th annual classic car caravan Nov. 24, putting Hawai'i's Toys for Tots 2002 kickoff campaign back on track.

The car caravan precedes by a week the Street Bikers United's 28th annual Christmas Toy Drive parade. Street Bikers United, a 900-member lobbying group for motorcyclists, announced yesterday that it will also pay a $3,000 city fee.

Marine Staff Sgt. Ruben Villarreal, the state's Toys for Tots coordinator, said earlier this week that he expected both events to be canceled because organizers had indicated they could not afford to pay the $3,000 fee for parade services, waived by the city in previous years.

This year's Toys for Tots goal is 60,000 toys and contributions from participants in the two events amounts to more than 5,000 toys annually, Villarreal said.

City Managing Director Ben Lee said the city can no longer afford to assume costs for coning, police presence, insurance and cleanup because of budget cuts but added the city would try assist nonprofit groups with private sponsors.

E. Roy Gomez, Street Bikers United's state director, said yesterday his group would somehow find the money to stage its event.

"We're willing to put it on at any cost because it's for the kids," Gomez said.

Between 3,000 and 5,000 riders are each expected to donate toys and take part in the Dec. 1 Street Bikers United parade along Kalakaua Avenue.

The auto business company, which requested anonymity, will pay the fee to stage the car caravan from Magic Island to Kapi'olani Park. Organizer Jeff Cadadona expects more than 300 cars.

"I'm elated," Cadadona said of the sponsorship. "We would not be able to do it otherwise."

The parade fee issue has caught the attention of Brent White, the American Civil Liberties Union's legal director, who said the city may be "breaking a promise" made in an Oct. 12, 2001, stipulation that it would not charge fees to groups that could not afford to pay.

Deputy Corporation Counsel Gregory Swartz said the fee waiver refers to "parades held for the purpose of participants expressing views or engaging in other activities protected by the First Amendment" and was never intended to apply to any or all groups.