Message from President G. Politte: HBFFA has traditionally participated in the annual MLK parade rotating yearly between the COH parade and the Grand (Midtown) parade. On Wednesday, Jan 11th, I spoke with Deputy Galvan who stated that the failure of a city admin/receptionist to distribute the email invite was the reason HFD was not invited or scheduled to participate in the upcoming COH parade. On Jan 12th, Deputy Galvan advised that the corrections were fixed and HFD will be placing an apparatus in the parade due to a group dropping out of the parade which created a position for HFD. I advised Deputy Galvan that I’d spoken to the members during our monthly general meeting and informed them of the following conversation with Capt. Chichester regarding HFD not participating. After the corrections were made, I went on to inform Deputy Galvan, due to last-minute placement and possibly being in the back of the parade that we will not participate. To the membership, I would like to say that “I am not HBFFA…WE ARE HBFFA.” it is not my place to change traditions or the minds of those who want to attend the parade. For those who’d like to attend let me know and I’ll get the itinerary for the line-up.
In addition, we did not get invited to the Grand Parade simply because we didn’t sign up for the parade. As I stated at the beginning of this message, we rotate parades yearly and it was the COH turn for HBFFA participation. Now for those who would like to participate in the Grand (Midtown) parade, Local 341 will have their fire truck available and has offered HBFFA members the opportunity to participate. They will be meeting at 341 on Freeman Street and will move to the parade accordingly. Thanks for your time, stay safe HBFFA 
