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Chicago’s mayor wants South side parade to be a “respectful” affair

Recent years saw spike in arrests and lawlessness

By
DARA KELLY,
IrishCentral Staff Writer
Published Friday, January 20, 2012, 8:11 AM
Updated Friday, January 20, 2012, 9:47 AM

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See more: St. Patrick's Day  

Mayor Rahm Emanuel trusts that St. Patrick's Day will be a more 'respectful' affair.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel trusts that St. Patrick's Day will be a more 'respectful' affair.
Photo by Google Images


The Chicago South Side Irish Parade will be back this year, but Mayor Rahm Emanuel trusts that this time it will be a more 'respectful' affair.

The parade was canceled in 2009 when upward of 300,000 people showed up, a development that led to dozens of public order arrests, physical assaults on police officers and damage to local property.

Ironically it's an Irish American community leader who is canvassing not to bring back the parade. The money could be better spent on other projects he argues.

'I’m about to close Beverly-Morgan Park mental health facility a half-mile up the parade route,' Alderman Matt O’Shea the Sun-Times. 'I have a classroom at a school a few blocks from the parade route with 40 kids in it. We’re doing layoffs citywide. We’re [cutting back] library hours. If we’ve got $300,000 to put on a parade, I’d like to see it spent on some of those problems.'
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Read more:

Stopping abusive behavior at St.Patrick's Parades can be done -- New York and Chicago parades point the way forward

Why Irish gays march under their own banners in St. Pat's Parade

The Mummers Parade and Other Irish Traditions

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Mayor Emanuel sees the value in allowing Irish Americans to celebrate their heritage, though: 'That parade is a recognition to Irish Americans who call Chicago home. It is my hope that after a few years of hitting the pause button, people remember a way to celebrate their heritage, celebrate and be proud of it in a way that’s also respectful of the community and the neighborhood.'

According to a report in the Huffington Post local merchants have donated $80,000 to hire a private security firm, and police plan on checking bags for alcohol on the March 11 day of the parade.

'Safety is paramount to our plan,' parade committee chairman Joe Connelly told the Sun-Times. 'We are serious about having a zero-tolerance alcohol police, and that’s for everybody. Our intent is to have an alcohol-free parade."

​
See more: St. Patrick's Day , Irish American
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5 Comments

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upsceach | Jan 22, 2012, 03:24 AM EST
I only lived in Chicago for one year, but I didn't see a parade. But I had a grand time at a local. Drank pints and heard tunes.

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Mairin67 | Jan 20, 2012, 04:38 PM EST
Chicago does not need the south side parade. It has the main parade downtown. Isn't that enough? Besides, the parades are for all the people who aren't really that Irish...and for politicians. If you asked most people on the side lines of the parade, you know the ones with shamrocks painted on their faces and all decked out in green, what nationality they were, only a few might have a bit of Irish in them. The real Irish do not make that big of a fuss over St. Patirck's day as the Americans do. There are plenty of places in Chicago to go for a great Irish experience but people really only want to wear green and drink..because that is their perception of what it is to be Irish. I agree with the alderman, use the money where it is needed.

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CitizenWhy | Jan 20, 2012, 01:48 PM EST
There have always been many Irish disgusted by the St. Patrick Day antics. That reaction is hardly anti-Irish, it's simply anti-clown and anti-boorishness. On the other hand, Emmanuel's latest and scary anti-demonstration ordinances will make it easy for him to suppress any crowd.

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jamieLM | Jan 20, 2012, 10:57 AM EST
@PhlutiePhan - don't believe everything you read. Kantor may or may not be right. Good luck trying to get the Irish out of Chicago. Not gonna happen - cow or no cow.

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PhlutiePhan | Jan 20, 2012, 10:37 AM EST
If you read the book by Jodi Kantor, there is a lot or resentment in the ranks of the Democratic Party for the Irish American culture. With Chicago rebuilding its image from the "city of broad shoulders" to one dominated by the philosophy according to Oprah, I am waiting for Mrs. O'Leary's cow to kick over another lantern and the Irish be blamed and run out of town with their potatoes with them as a health hazard.

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