Teressa Pace/Photo Editor
Binghamton University students and residents gathered Downtown Monday for the city of Binghamton's Columbus Day celebrations, where Broome County's congressman gave a speech.

The festivities, organized by the city of Binghamton and the Downtown Binghamton Business Association, began with the raising of the Italian flag around 9 a.m. More than 300 people attended. The parade included a marching band competition featuring local high schools where bands were judged based on appearance, freshness and the difficulty of the music, according to a press release.

"Our Columbus Day celebrations allow us to applaud the Italian American community and showcase everything that Downtown Binghamton has to offer," Binghamton Mayor Matt Ryan, who led the parade as Grand Marshall, said. "The Tournament of the Bands has attracted thousands of residents and visitors since 1958, and this year's event will be another chapter in that fine tradition."

Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) used the parade as a backdrop for a press conference about Lockheed Martin's VH-71 presidential helicopter program.

The $13 billion dollar project was terminated by the United States Department of Defense on June 1 of this year, along with 600 jobs at Lockheed Martin's Owego facility, where the helicopters were being made.

According to the Press & Sun-Bulletin, the government spent $3.2 billion on the project until they decided to cease development as the project fell behind schedule and went over budget.

Last week, Hinchey acquired internal documents from the Defense Department which indicated a replacement plan for presidential helicopters that would cost three times as much to develop, and 12 years longer than the previous Lockheed Martin plan.

"Why that would be done is just amazing, frankly," Hinchey said. "The situation is based upon peculiar interests in something else rather than doing the best job for the people of this country and to do it in the most effective and efficient way."

Next week, Hinchey will be meeting with defense leaders in the Senate and House of Representatives in Washington, D.C. in efforts to revive the original Lockheed Martin plan.

He has already helped to secure $485.2 million in the House version of the 2010 Defense Appropriations Bill to revive the plan, but has yet to convince the Senate.

"I think we are still at least 50/50," he said. "Whether or not we are going to be able to get these facts understood clearly and have them evaluated and accomplished over the context of the opposition that we're facing is really the question."

According to a press release from Hinchey's office, the current presidential helicopters were designed in the 1950s and built in the 1970s.

"There are nine [VH-71's] that have had something in the neighborhood of 800 hours of flights and examinations," Hinchey said. "They stand up miraculously well ... they are so very, very good and so much better than the existing helicopter situation."

Hinchey also added that if efforts to revive the plan do not go through this week, it could be the final nail in the coffin.

"We'll see what happens," he said.

- Aaron Axelson contributed to this report.