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Patriots parade delayed to Wednesday
By adamg on Mon, 02/02/2015 - 5:27pm
Too much snow on the ground, too much cold, the Mayor says:
Due to today's bad weather and the worsening forecast for tonight, the New England Patriots and the City of Boston have made the mutual decision to postpone the victory parade until Wednesday, February 4 at 11 a.m.
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Comments
Well duh!
Who made the call for Tuesday?
A Seattle Seahawk?
Tuesday parade?
That was a Pete Carroll call....
Finally a sensible decision
This should have been done from the beginning
Spring
I'm sticking with Spring as being an awesome time for a Parade.
GREAT
Finally some level headed thinking. I've been begging all day for this. I was driving around broken down and stuck cars all day in Boston and the parade route is far from safe or cleared out.
It blows my mind that no one in city hall or in the Pats organization for that matter takes into account the many businesses that wait for something like this to happen. This has been a horrible twelve months for retail. Believe me I know. To just rush right into a parade without giving the many people like me the time to get ready by printing shirts and taking care of my wholesale accounts and getting my employees scheduled etc... All the bars and restaurants along the parade route who would benefit from a big celebration, all the stores that sell Pats gear waiting for their Super Bowl merch to arrive who currently have none, and NOT to mention ALL the fans who want to go to the parade and not stand in ten foot high snow banks or wait in ten below weather for a duck boat to drive by.
I get that the Patriots players have worked hard all year and want to go home to their mansions and Escalades but let's get real for a minute. Where would they be without the fans? What happened to "Do Your Job"? The parade and the celebration is part of the job guys. They make a LOT of money so maybe spreading a little around by waiting three extra days to go to St. Barts would be a NICE thing to do? No? Those of us who depend on something like this just to get through the winter would greatly appreciate it.
(This is the point where the Devil's Advocate desk jockey hacks who get paid even if they sleep in their cubicles all day make a snarky comment about what they think it's like to own a business even though the closest they ever came was when they wrote that last Yelp review berating the busboy for removing their desert plate too soon)
Olympics
Olympics
...half the point of hosting
...half the point of hosting which is to pressure the feds into giving us infrastructure money they won't otherwise provide after the Big Dig?
Parade priority for snow plows
Mr Mayor wants snow plows working nonstop to plow a damn parade route, and let the streets to Hospitals, ERs and the bus routes and roads for the working citizens remain frozen over? #EPICFAIL. Total 1 term mayor.
People need to chill out a little
And I'm not talking the weather. It's BOYLSTON STREET folks - I can guarantee you a fleet of plows runs down there every few hours during every snowstorm - and Tremont as well, parade or no parade.
Beyond that they are using the snow melters to clear the parade route- probably one guy on a front end loader and another one or two people to operate the melter, direct traffic etc. This is a very small deal compared to what normally happens anyway.
Listen - I agree the verdict is still out on the Mayor - but this is not something to get overly amped over. Think you are getting ripped off, resources redirected (all 6 people or whatever) - many of the restaurants along Boylston saw their taxes jump by tens of thousands of dollars. This is a nice piece of biz for them - throw 'em a bone will ya?
why do THEY get a snow melter?
And who is paying for the thousands of gallons of diesel fuel it uses?
Look around in the neighborhoods - there's 5-6 foot piles of snow in every city neighborhood center. Why aren't crews doing something about that? Screw downtown.
Screw downtown?
Good luck. Keep in mind if you "seceded" from downtown, your taxes would double overnight and be among the highest if not the highest in the state per $1000 of value. The 2 square miles that constitutes "downtown" Boston (about 3-4% of its land mass) pays probably 50-60% of the property taxes and generates almost 100% of the annual incremental revenue each year for the city from "new development". Without that money, this city is in a DEEP hole.
Count your blessings your piles are 5-6 feet - when I drove down Dartmouth LAST week some piles in front of the library were probably 10-12 feet high at the corners.
Bottom line - it's a public event. The city is the host and has to provide security - you don't want people (especially ones that may have had a cocktail or two) climbing on 6-12 foot piles of snow and ice unless you want very busy hospitals and lots of lawsuits.
As for the money - I'll tell you who's paying for it - the bars and restaurants along Boylston that are paying millions of dollars in extra taxes next year based on new assessments - partly due to the fact that all these events generate a lot of revenue for them. If their assessments get lowered, those taxes don't go away - they get transferred to you and me. So I repeat - throw 'em a bone. You are getting more than your money's worth.
Tremont is not clear to the
Tremont is not clear to the pavement. Slippery, slippery mess.
But it was last Friday
I was there last Friday and the street and sidewalks were both clear. I agree with stevil, let's keep this in perspective. I don't like the idea of "diverting resources" either, but a)it seems like this area generally gets cleared pretty well anyway, probably because of the large amount of traffic, foot and otherwise, and b)this really is a short stretch as such things go. Copley to Government Center? Not that much.
Chill out?
I'm looking down at Boylston right now, at the start of the route, from an office that is still extremely empty due to the T's tribulations. The street's looking good (can't say the same for Gloucester and Fairfield, which look like they still have an inch on the road and are one lane only today), but there are (like everywhere) significant piles of snow between the street and the (pretty clear) interior sidewalks. Go a couple blocks in any direction and you'll find foot navigation very difficult (check out the awesome ice skating rink on the traffic island at Huntington and Exeter! But don't expect to cross the street towards Boylston, just a giant pile of snow there.).
The T is FUBAR, the sidewalks are slippery and dangerous, there are about 3 empty parking spots in the entire Back Bay. You are welcome to your opinions, but the idea of having a parade tomorrow remains stupid.
Not Boston Residents
I'd also like to point out that most people attending the parade won't even be Boston residents.
Not sure why the city is bending over backwards for Revere, Braintree and Framingham residents.
Have the Parade in the Natick Mall.
And you know this how?
How do you know that "most people attending the parade won't be Boston residents"? The way the MBTA is going, I'd say non-residents don't have a hope in hell of getting there. Will that satisfy your inner grinch?
And you know this how?
How do you know that "most people attending the parade won't be Boston residents"? The way the MBTA is going, I'd say non-residents don't have a hope in hell of getting there. Will that satisfy your inner grinch?
City streets are a mess
and is a disgrace especially the intersections and streets near schools and fire houses.
If the DPW doesn't want to clear the streets of snow, call out the National Guard.
They are the * New England* Patriots
Really, there's no rule that the parade must be in Boston. Heck, their stadium isn't even here. The rally could be in any other New England city. In fact I'd love to share the love, spread the wealth. Why not Providence? They didn't get as much snow as we did.
Plus..
...it would keep thousands of meathead sports fans that ruin Boston... out of the city.
Have The Parade at Natick Mall! Start an online petition!
Why don't you start it if you
Why don't you start it if you want it? That way it'll get all the attention it deserves, just like every other online petition.
Seriously, with the energy and fuss people are making over this damn parade one way or another, you could be doing something useful that would probably make you happier. Instead you all seem bound and determined to make yourselves and everyone within reach as miserable as you possibly can. Snap out of it, for God's sake, there's a lot of winter yet to go so get a grip.
Duh, hold it at
Patriot Place.
Great Idea
There really is no difference between Patriots Place and the Natick Mall.
Same type of scene.
Let Kraft pay for the snow removal and let Walsh focus on getting the snow out of Boston.
Is there some pressing reason
Is there some pressing reason to hold the parade immediately under the present circumstances? It can't wait for Saturday when there's less traffic coming into the city and the T isn't completely useless? Really?
Yes
The season is over, the players want to go home.
In three words
Totally lame excuse. These "professionals" barely work for six to eight weeks of the year and get an outrageously huge salary for it. If having a "victory parade" is so important to the City and the region, then they should be compelled by the Krafts to attend.
If I made the kind of $ to
If I made the kind of $ to give away trucks I'd stick around til Sat for the fans but I'm cool like that #SuperBowlXLIX