Bill de Blasio cancels event permits in New York City through June: ‘Not a happy announcement’

“This probably will not surprise you, but I am now reporting today that we will cancel city permits for June events as well. It’s not a happy announcement, but it’s one we have to make,” de Blasio said.

He continued: “Look, a lot of these events will be postponed. I want to be clear: The permits are being canceled for June, but the event organizers, a lot of them are looking at doing something later in the year, and we’re going to work with them on that.”

De Blasio said the decision was the “right thing to do” and noted that he believes that postponing the events now could help the organizers find the right date for the event while keeping people safe. He also called the three major parades the city’s “highlights of the whole year.”

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“[The Pride Parade is] a very, very big deal. That march is such an important part of [the] life of this city, but this year, in particular, was going to be something that was a historic moment,” de Blasio said. “We’re going to miss all three of them in June, but they will be back, and we will find the right way to do it working with all the event organizers.”

He added: “That joy and that pride that all of these events bring, that celebration will be back. We’re going to do it when it’s the right time.”

New York is the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the United States, with more than 248,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 18,289 related deaths as of Monday. De Blasio recently unveiled a hotline for New Yorkers to call and report their neighbors to the police for breaching social distancing orders.