South Boston’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade has again been shortened and will go from Broadway Station to Farragut Road because of the barrage of snow, but residents and business owners along the parade route are advised to shovel their walkways to help prepare for the parade. If that isn’t incentive enough $50 tickets will aggressively be handed out, according to the City of Boston.
Boston got hit with a foot or more of snow before the blizzard that battered Massachusetts blew out of the state. The city’s snow emergency and parking ban for main roads remained in effect until Wednesday at 5 PM and officials had already issued more than 700 tickets and towed more than 100 cars.
Schools were closed on Tuesday and Wednesday. “We want to make sure the bus stops are clear, so kids can wait for their buses” said Mayor Marty Walsh.
City officials stated that it’s very difficult to have the route that winds through South Boston with all the snow we have. “It would cost millions and millions of dollars to clear out every corner of every street for a parade in South Boston” said the mayor. This is the reason that the route has been shortened to what has been labeled as ‘The Snow Route’.
The Snow Route has been used in recent years for the same reason. Late winter snow storms hit the area hard in March and in an effort to make sure the parade is not cancelled but that safety concerns are also addressed, the shortened route is deemed to be the wise decision. The mayor’s office has been in contact with parade organizers which is the South Boston Allied War Council before the final decision was made. But for those residents, and there were many, who were confused as to whether there would even be a parade this year at all, the answer is yes, but with the shortened route. Again, the route will be – beginning at Broadway Station, up West Broadway to the End of East Broadway and ending at the Admiral Farragut Statue.
And once again, Mayor Walsh and elected officials are asking residents and businesses to clear their sidewalks. City law requires property owners to shovel their walks three hours after a snowstorm ends or face fines of $50 for homeowners and $200 for businesses. Walsh said officials will be out and about daily.
