Mayor Carter didn't have $100k for Independence Day fireworks but does have $225k for a “human-powered gliding” competition - American Experiment

Mayor Carter didn't have $100k for Independence Day fireworks but does have $225k for a “human-powered gliding” competition - American Experiment
"On Independence Day last year, there was no “rocket’s red glare” or “bombs bursting in air” to give “proof through the night that our flag was still there” in Saint Paul. 
The city’s mayor, Melvin Carter, cancelled its fireworks for the first time in recent memory. He explained

“As I’ve considered the budgetary priorities we manage across our city in the first year of my administration, I’ve decided I can’t in good conscience support spending tax dollars on a fireworks display in St. Paul this year”

Bluntly, he said “The fact of the matter is that we just don’t have $100,000 to spend blowing up rockets over our city”
...Of course, he could have let others pay for it. 
The Star Tribune reported that

Mayor Melvin Carter’s office declined multiple offers to help pull together a July 4 fireworks display in St. Paul after he announced in late June that the annual event would not happen. ...What wasn’t announced at the time was the public price tag for the “human-powered gliding” competition and how the Sept. 7 event will be paid for. ...The energy drink’s extreme-sporting events come at a cost of roughly $225,000 in public sponsorship, money that the city and its tourism bureau have searched for “under every seat cushion,” according to Visit St. Paul Chief Executive Terry Mattson..."

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