BRIEFLY : Parade: Inglewood to Build Rose Bowl Float

The Inglewood City Council has voted to cancel an annual community celebration and instead spend the money on a float for the 1995 Rose Parade and for a proposed gathering of sister city delegates later this summer.

Inglewood Community Unity Celebration, a one-day event with dinner, a petting zoo and music, has suffered sagging attendance in recent years, Mayor Edward Vincent said.

The celebration, held for 10 years, cost the city about $90,000 a year, City Manager Paul D. Eckles said.

The council authorized spending $45,000 on a float for the 1995 Tournament of Roses parade in Pasadena. Partners for Progress, a local business coalition, agreed to match that amount, Eckles said.

“Inglewood has an image problem, and putting a float in the parade is a good opportunity to turn around negative perceptions,” Eckles said.

The last Inglewood entry into the parade in 1993 cost between $125,000 and $150,000, Eckles said. The city didn’t enter a float this year because, in the face of a budget deficit and nearly 50 layoffs, the council felt it would be inappropriate, he said.

The council also plans to entertain emissaries from Inglewood’s five sister city organizations later this summer. The council voted to invite delegations from Kyongju, Korea; Tijuana, Mexico; Port Antonio, Jamaica; Pedavina, Italy, and Bo, Sierra Leone.

Eckles estimated the cost of providing accommodations and entertainment at $45,000. The council also agreed to pay the transportation expenses for the Sierra Leone delegation. That decision stems from an incident in April in which a miscommunication between officials in both countries left the Sierra Leone delegation stranded at an airport for more than a week.

Councilwoman Judith L. Dunlap, the only dissenting voice on both proposals, said the money would be better spent elsewhere.