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City orders shortening of the St. Patrick's parade again, even with no snow on the ground
By adamg on Tue, 03/01/2016 - 1:22pm
City Hall apparently thinks last year's snow-shortened route for the St. Patrick's parade in South Boston worked so well it's ordering up another shortened parade this year as well, parade organizers say - a decision that is not sitting at all well with many people in the neighborhood.
Under orders from the mayor's office last week, the parade, which will still start at Broadway station, will end at Farragut Road, rather than swinging south and heading towards Andrew Square.
The parade's organizers, who still have the longer route on their Web site say they are shocked and dissatisfied:
This shortens the parade by over 2 miles and forces spectators to stuff onto the sidewalks on Broadway to view our event, while taking away the right of many South Boston residents to view it from the comfort of their own homes and neighborhoods. Lastly, it takes away the very important landmarks that our parade participants march past in order recognize the significance of Evacuation Day. ...
No straight answer from City officials as to why the route was changed, or why they are not letting Veterans march past the Dorchester Heights National Historical Site during their 115th annual parade, which is organized and paid for every year by the South Boston Veterans and their supporters.
Ed. note: I e-mailed the mayor's press office last night and called this morning. If I do hear back from them, will post their answers.
People are filing complaints with 311, and, of course casting aspersions on the Dorchester-born mayor and the parades in his part of town:
Complaint about the Saint Patrick's day parade I think it's a disgrace that the parade is being shorten due to safety . The parade has been here for over 60 years and the community funds the parade. I don't think that the people of Dorchester and Roxbury fund the Caribbean festival and I believe that requires a lot more safety concerns.
Another complaint:
The parade is many things to a family from South Boston. It's tradition, history, heritage and about family. Shorting the route will only cause more problems. Too many people cramped into one space. How are people supposed to enjoy the parade while packed in like sardines?! How are children and the disabled going to view the parade while being behind 20+ people?! What about the disabled people who live far from the "route"? It's not fair to the residents of South Boston in any way. If you won't take the constituents of Boston think of all the revenue the city will lose!
Some, however, do support the move:
Please keep shortened parade route. Better yet, get rid of the whole parade! Terrible day for families. And no I'm not a newcomer but a life long resident.
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Comments
not sensible
My issue with this is that it ends the parade over by Castle Island, most of the marchers need to make their way back towards Andrew or Broadway anyway, why not have them marching?
I say cancel the parade all together.
I say cancel the parade all together.
SoBo hasn't been an Irish neighborhood since 1995. Move it to the South Shore.
Uh actually
**SOUTHIE'S most highly claimed ancestry is Irish, and it is in fact claimed in just over 50% of the City Point households. Also, I've seen your prior posts on Southie-related news articles and you sound like a snob who's trying to give "townies" a legit reason to hate us yuppies. -A Southie Yuppie
Stop calling Southie SoBo
Don't understand your motive but your wasting your time trying to get people to follow your trend
For the record, I don't
For the record, I don't personally know you, but I absolutely adore the persona you've cultivated on this site.
Not true
Last year they staged the beginning at Broadway station as usual but parade marchers transportation was then allowed to pick them up on Farragut road. They then could take either 1st street or day blvd to get on the expressway. They did not have to walk back.
As a life long southie resident, I think this new shorter route is better. This parade has turned into an out of town/ college kid booze fest. The family element is long gone. The shorter the better it just means less alleys or sidewalks for kids to pee on (both male and female BTW)
Too bad.
Bill Linehan must get tired walking the longer route...
It's not like our mayor is a
It's not like our mayor is a true Irishman or anything right?
IT'S TRUE....
he gave up drinking cuz he couldn't handle his demons. Now he is free and clearheaded enough to know that adults can't handle themselves so we should ban chewing tobacco, shorten the St. Pats Parade, and do everything possible to keep bars shutting down at 1am instead of 2am.
I finally moved back to Boston proper this year and I cannot WAIT to vote this clown out of office. #anybodybutmahty
cancel the parade entirely
or rework it until it can include people of ALL nationalities and religions and creeds
Take a hike bub
Positive your liberal white guilt wouldn't allow you to make the same stupid comment about the PR, DR, Carribian or Gay parades.
im latino
im latino
and the first of my entire family born in america
no guilt :)
edit: also not a liberal really strike two.. but hey this is america and we're all about three strikes here, no?
So you'd prefer no ethnic
So you'd prefer no ethnic themed parades at all?
How bland.
nope
i was calling for inclusion is all!
sorry you'd rather segregate things, difference in opinion is all this is!
edit: honestly i'd rather there were no parades at all, except for memorial day or july 4th celebrations perhaps
i find the concept outmoded and disruptive to everyday life
Again, bland.
Again, bland.
The beauty of the dance, costumes, food and music of other cultures should be appreciated and enjoyed.
Your version of an inclusion sounds boring.
But, I do agree with you about disruptions but what are you gonna do? You share the city.
inclusiveness
Scumquistador, you clearly are not from around here because you don't understand the issue. Gay people have marched in the parade since the beginning of the parade. What the sponsors didn't want is their message for both veterans and St. Patrick to be hijacked. You can be gay and march but there is no need for signs re: LGBT. Nobody cares on that day. That's a different parade and your message is loud and clear. It's not about exclusion as you say. It's about celebrating a theme. Stick with the program and you're in.
im from around here enough
to have gone to a catholic school in the archdiocese of boston where being scolded by (then Father) Bishop F. X. Irwin was more of a pleasurable rather than frightening experience (he was a really nice guy)
dont tell me where i'm from, kid
I must say my gay Irish
I must say my gay Irish American cousin agreed with you! He and I would speak of this and as a Boston city born (rare on this blog) Irish American gay person he couldn't agree with the LBGT groups.
He, like many others, wished it stayed what it was. But his opinions were drowned out by the social justice warriors who think they know what is best.
Are there gay themed participants in other parades? Dominican festival? Will there be a time when there will be a Muslim themed parade and will they have gay floats? Time will tell.
What about the Dominican
What about the Dominican Festival riles up right wingers so much? Have you even been? I have and really enjoyed it. If you don't like it, don't go. And don't worry about your gay muslim parade, Charlie Baker made it pretty clear he didnt want muslims coming to his state (though he said nothing about Belgians, even though one of the paris attackers was from Belgian).
Gay people all have the same opinions
Just like straight people, so I thank you for this valuable anecdote
#AllParadesMatter
..
Wanna have an Irish Heritage
Wanna have an Irish Heritage parade? Cool. In the meantime, the existing parade is a Catholic event, which has been used as an excuse to exclude people in the past (not in 2015, to their credit). It isn't even inclusive of all Irish-Americans (hello, Orangemen).
I haven't heard the term
I haven't heard the term Orangemen in a while.
My mother called me one day when she found out her neighbor was one, they got along quite well but she was shocked at the news.
I never knew the parade was a Catholic event, nor have I ever read about it being promoted that way. I do believe it's because a majority of the Irish in Boston are indeed Catholic.
You weren't aware that the
You weren't aware that the Saint Patrick's Day parade was a Catholic event? I don't think many Baptists or Jews or atheists or whatever have anything to celebrate there. That (and the hateful history of the South Boston Allied War Veteran's Council) is why I want to decouple celebration of Evacuation Day from the St. Patrick's parade.
Why are you saying hello to
Why are you saying hello to Syracuse fans? Is it March Madness already?
You are revealing your ignorance.
Orangemen is the term used for Irish Protestants in Northern Ireland who favor continuing to remain in the UK. As opposed to the green Catholic Irish from the south who put on the S B Parade.
Yeah its not at all likely
He was making a joke. He is DEFINITELY the ignorant one here.
I thought anybody could go.
I thought anybody could go. Am I wrong?
...so the Dominican parade
...so the Dominican parade shouldn't focus on Dominican heritage? Strange!
It's put on by a private
It's put on by a private organization, not the government, and there's ample case law that governments cannot prevent public gatherings from taking place on public streets based on content. You don't like it, don't go to it.
In my personal fantasy-Boston
In my personal fantasy-Boston, this is a prelude to the city announcing an official Evacuation Day parade. Let Wacko's heirs keep a shortened St. Patrick's Day route, and the city could create an inclusive celebration of one of the most unexpected, momentous, and miraculous victories of the Revolutionary War. Without the baggage of the existing parade, this could be a nationally recognized historic event.
yeah dawg! im with you too
yeah dawg! im with you too
First you'll have to find
First you'll have to find minorities of various attributes who care about what white anglo saxon protestant males did 240 years ago.
They should kind of care
They should kind of care about the people which fought to build the place they now live in and the society they enjoy the benefits thereof. The American Revolution brought back the idea of a democratic republic. Something which hadn't existed in over a thousand years at that point.
a democratic republic funded by slave labor...
built on land drowned in Native American blood. And those white males still enjoy the larger share of those "benefits".
I think your history book is missing a few pages.
The perfect is the enemy of the good.
For sure - There's not a nation on earth not built on the backs of its adversaries and victims. Of course we should remember and learn from the mistakes of the past - but we should also celebrate the honor and courage of those that pushed the wheel of progress forward so that we could live in this better world today. And be inspired by them to continue the always-evolving journey towards that perfect union.
In that sense, Evacuation Day is an exceptional event. It celebrates the nearly bloodless breaking of the Seige of Boston and the beginning of the liberation of America. And it was accomplished by engineers, nerds and working stiffs! So Boston!
eh
there are historians in every community lolol
don't forget the Shriner's!!
If I don't see old men in Fez caps driving miniture cars around in this new patriotic parade there will be hell to pay!
You can always catch them in
You can always catch them in the North End parades!
I think that "minorities of
I think that "minorities of various attributes" care about the principles embodied in our Revolutionary era and the cause of universal liberty that was born here in Boston in the words of Otis, J Adams, S Adams, and Warren.
They'll care
if they can cover themselves in ridiculous party favors and get wa-a-a-sted at 10 am.
We could literally have a Librarian's History Day Parade and there'd be people drinking out of flasks and woo-ing while wearing novelty sunglasses and Mardi Gras beads.
Doesn't seem to be a problem
Doesn't seem to be a problem on July 4.
On Broadway only
So that all the drinking establishments can benefit by having 2 million drunks crammed onto one street. After all, these bars contribute zippo to the parade or any of the events leading up to it.
This is the only Parade (less sport parades)
Where the Cops bust doew on people for drinking. Literally, every other ethnic parade in the city they turn the other cheek.
Hahahaha
Good one, anon. I see you've never been within half a mile of the Dominican or Haitian parades, back when they ran through Franklin Park. Really wish I'd stopped to take pictures of the wall of riot police marching in tight formation to clear the street ten minutes after the parade came through. Helicopter support, too! All those brown people eating empanadas... won't someone please think of the children?
Anyway, I'll be over here, playing the world's smallest violin for the poor downtrodden families of Southie who just want to get liquored up in peace.
Don't attend the parade then.
Don't attend the parade then. Would you like the New Orleans Mardi Gras parade to be canceled? Remind me never to invite you to a party.
I don't quite understand the
I don't quite understand the shock and outrage over this since Brian Mahoney's newspaper talked about keeping the new route last week and he said readers seemed fairly positive about the idea:
http://www.southbostontoday.com/reading-between-the-lines-15/
Not the best idea
Way to many drunk people crammed together for comfort and skipping some of Southie's most famous landmarks.....don't understand the motive in this at all.
Hillary
All that sucking up to Hillary went to Mahty's head. I hope they boo him out of the Convention Center Breakfast.
Which amendment was that again?
Can someone remind me where we are granted that "right" in the US or MA constitution?
thumbs up!
Well spoken sir!!
The constitution doesn't
The constitution doesn't "grant" rights. It protects inalienable rights (natural rights are innate freedoms everyone has as a sentient person) from government trespass. One cannot grant something which otherwise exists in nature and only goes away if some government employs force to do so.
It's right
Next to the one guaranteeing the parking spot right in front of ones house
C'mon racist complaints
C'mon racist complaints (comparing it to the Caribbean festival, at least). For the record, I feel way more unsafe at the St. Patrick's Day parade, so I don't go anymore.
Here's another 311 gem
https://mayors24.cityofboston.gov/reports/101001727116
hmmmm
Curious how they were 'forced' to move.
You can get away with almost
Jim Hacker - Yes Minister
I think that pretty much sums up what's going on here.
President Trump will Make
President Trump will Make Southie Great Again, imagine a Trump tower full of good ol' boys, and parades celebrating straight irish heritage going on for miles with good, clean, old fashioned, family Irish fun. Like their used to be.
didnt that movie
just get nominated for a few oscars?
Won Best Picture too!
Won Best Picture too!
Nah, Mad Max only won the
Nah, Mad Max only won the costume award.
Uhub Spring
Like clockwork, we moved from Space Savers to the St Patricks Day stuff.
What's next? Marathon Monday stuff? or is there something in between for us to chatter/bitch/moan/whine/argue about?
we could get real meta
and start whining about the shit people whine about while pretending we aren't part of our own perceived problem
Ok all u haters
Tell me what's going to happen to the Dot Day parade?
Come back and ask that when ...
You have roving hordes of drunken 20somethings vomiting all over Dot. Ave. and getting into the sort of brawls that drunken 20somethings like to get into.
Exactly. St. Patty's Day got
Exactly. St. Patty's Day got old a long time ago, twentysomethings flooding in on the T from the near suburbs to wear stupid hats and beads for a few hours.
Barcalounger.
"the right of many South Boston residents to view it from the comfort of their own homes".
Wow. Walking down the block now infringes on your rights? Perhaps it should snake up and down every single street so no one feels left out.
Can't wait for the St.
Can't wait for the St. Patrick's Day parade followed by a pint and some live Irish folk music at Mr. Dooley's! I feel sorry for the Irish haters who think St. Paddy's Day is only about drinking green beer and puking in Southie. You're missing out! Sláinte!