City, bike-race officials huddle on cost problems

Philly's biggest bicycle race of the year hit a giant speed bump due to city budget blues and the loss of sponsors, but organizers and city officials signaled yesterday that they were determined to keep the race on track.

Organizers of the 25th Philadelphia International Cycling Championship, which winds around the city from Benjamin Franklin Parkway to the famous "Manayunk Wall," showed up at Police Traffic Headquarters, in South Philly, yesterday to discuss costs and to help ensure that the tradition keeps rolling.

"We pled our case to relook at some of the costs without [jeopardizing] public safety or public works," said race co-founder Jerry Casale. "And they were extremely cordial in overviewing the costs."

The usually routine meeting took place after organizers realized that they would be about $500,000 short because the cash-strapped city will charge for services this year.

Organizers have said that they would cancel the race if they can't come up with a total of $1.7 million by Monday.

Facing a huge budget gap, the city has charged for police, medical and clean-up services for several recent events, including the Mummers and St. Patrick's Day parades.

"We recognize that services have to be paid for," Casale said. "We should pay and we will pay."

"We will continue to work in concert with them," Mayor Nutter said yesterday. "There are a number of potential additional sponsors.

"It's Tuesday, they want to make a decision by next Monday, that's a lifetime in this business."

The race, considered to be the "longest running and most important single-day cycling road race," is set to go off on June 7 and is still sponsored by TD Bank.

The race draws competitors from all over the world and attracts thousands of spectators who line the course from Center City to Manayunk.

"There's no other event that attaches the downtown city of Philadelphia to a residential area," Casale said.

Despite the obstacles to pulling off the race this year, Casale described yesterday's meeting as upbeat, leaving supporters on an optimistic note.

"The mayor's whole team was there to help us embrace the race," Casale said. "We made a lot of friends with the city and they're working diligently to keep this going."

No solution was reached yesterday, but Casale expects to hear something today.

"They're going to do an analysis on what can be done," he said.

Casale said that the organizers are relying on last-minute sponsors and for spectators to buy items like the Champions Row VIP ticket on their Web site, which, they hope, will "bridge the gap with the help of every citizen." *