Hey, there! Log in / Register
Support Universal Hub
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
Comments
Article
What a wet blanket.
What
You think giving the T more time to prepare by moving the parade to a weekend date is all that unreasonable?
Patriots
The players want to get home to their families & start their offseason, they don't want to wait around in Metro Boston for 4-5 more days.
Really, Who Likes to Wait To Be Showered With Adoration?
And those extra few days in Boston being comped drinks and meals everywhere you go, and all of those media interviews and endorsement gigs and selfies everyday, would have just been utter hell for these young men.
Employed
The employees want to get home to their families & start their dinner, they don't want to wait around in downtown Boston for 40 more minutes.
And there's 100,000s of them.
Obvious Solution
The obvious solution is to host the parade during the summer months during training camp. (1) The weather will be better. (2) Fewer college kids will be around. (3) Players will be back in the area. (4) Plenty of people will be on vacation. (5) Great way to get hyped for the new season.
The idea that the T might
The idea that the T might ever prepare in advance for a widely-publicized public event is pretty unreasonable.
IDK
I get the snark, but it happens for stuff like the St. Paddy's Day Parade.
and First Night, July 4th, the Marathon, and Head of the Charles
Seriously...
People are literally complaining because Boston is just winniing too many championships lately.
No one is complaining that we
No one is complaining that we're winning too many championships.
We're complaining about the massive inconvenience holding a parade on a weekday causes, when just pushing it off to the weekend would be better for everyone, from commuters, to people who want to attend but have to work, to the T who would be better able to handle crowds, to businesses downtown that don't normally serve as many customers on weekends.
You can both want to celebrate and wish the celebration were scheduled on a different day.
We're Kinda Are...
If this was 2002 but everything else are somehow the same (particularly the weather, state of our trains, and especially the record breaking level of people), then the massive inconvenience and irritation would be still be experience as you argued. But also just be shrugged off as being a one time special event - perhaps even stronger for Boston in particular as back then we had a mentality we might never see another one again in our lifetime. The sense of joy also would be stronger too, which also help temper the negative emotions too.
But after 10 parades (the other 2 were on weekends) and 2 parades less then 100 days apart, the sense of irritation is now strong enough for some people to start calling for it like this article.
It’s one day of your life...
Why can’t pekple suffer through a bit of inconvenience nowadays, without acting like it’s the end of the world? And it’s not like it’s guaranteed to happen every year. We all know it’ll be a shit show no matter what day it happens. The solution would be to cancel the parades altogether, or we can all just suck it up once in a while.
10 days
10 days out of over 6,000 days between parades.
Yeah, hokey,
than just have the damn thing on a weekend.
Look, I take the commuter rail into the city to work every day to earn a living. I should be able to get to my job every day without much hassle. I should not, however, be denied that because the Patriots want to have a parade during the work week.
Because South Station was such a shit show during evening rush hour, I could change my travel plans to get home, taking the Orange Line to Forest Hills and than a bus home. I am lucky cause I can. Those who can't, had to brave the drunken, loud and aggressive fan base, to wait for their very late trains. And, gee, I just would of loved to be on a train with some jerk peeing on my foot and/or have to inhale urine on my very long trip home. But, I guess, I should of just sucked it up.
I work downtown
and this was by far - by FAR - the biggest logistical shitshow of all the championship parades. There's a huge difference between "a bit of inconvenience" and "not being able to get home for half a day".
One of my coworkers couldn't
One of my coworkers couldn't get into work that day. 4 trains passed without taking passengers...so he had to take annual leave because of the parade. Its just crazy. Can't we just move the next one to the stadium?
Where do you live?
We'll go make your life hell with drunken stupidity for a day.
Funny how all the whiners who tossed fits at the BLM protestors are all "gotta fight for yer right to paaaaaaarrtay!" when it comes to wipipo "celebrations".
Frankly, I'm glad not to be a part of either the BLM protests,
or the Patriots fans' parades and parties.
Neither of them are worth getting stuck in traffic or on the T for an excessively long time.
Ramirez had a longer T leadership tenure than Aloisi
Let that sink in for a minute. Ramirez was gone after 15 months. Aloisi was gone after 10 months. Take whatever Aloisi says with a grain of salt
From what I understand,
Aloisi was intended to be a "transition" type of Secretary of Transportation (and not the MBTA GM, mind you). Ramirez was intended to be a long-term placement. I'll continue to consider the substantive arguments Aloisi makes based on their merits rather than this more speculative approach, and I'd encourage others to do the same.
Nope. Look into the 28X Bus fiasco
It wasn't a case of "transition". It was poor performance
Surely,
If it's that prominent, you can link me to the story surrounding it. I think this may be the first time I'm hearing about this. I do recall this being around the same time as the MassDOT transition (MHS MTA merger).
Better yet
The 28X was proposed but not implemented, due to a poor rollout of the proposal.
Of course, I think Blue Hill Ave needs heavy rail in a tunnel, but that would cost some coin.
it's too bad
that 1) our transit system can't handle it and 2) people suck
I wonder which is harder to change? :)
hm
Probably the people, tbh
Hallelujah!
FINALLY someone is speaking sense about this Patriots madness. I work near North Station and the amount of drunken, loutish behavior was off the charts. Suburbanites cannot simply stomp into a working city like an invading horde of barbarians and use it as their private playground (and bathroom) for a day. And that is exactly what happened. Do they act like this in their home towns?
They do, it's just they're
They do, it's just they're more spread out so it's easier to not notice.
The answer is no...
I’m really getting a kick out of all the entitled city folks (probably mostly transplants from some suburb themselves) throwing a fit over typical behavior by people who have been drinking all day and are set loose on the streets. It’s as if all the city folks polished their halos extra shiny on Tuesday, and not a single city resident did anything stupid. To answer your question: no, “suburbanites” don’t act like this in their home towns. Moronic people who drink too much and can’t hold their booze act like this everywhere, Boston included. You don’t get to dictate who gets to come into the city. People have every right to enjoy themselves, and the bad apples don’t represent everyone. And for the record, I had to deal with the sloppy drunks after I left work as well. But unlike a lot of people, I haven’t spent two days brooding over it. Lighten up.
Check your privilege
People who live here in Boston do, in fact, have a right to complain about loutish behavior of people who don't live here.
Also, not that he needs anyone to defend him, the author of the column is a second, if not third, generation Bostonian.
Check my privilege?
That tired old cliche? C’mon. You can do better than that. I never said they don’t have the right to complain. I said they don’t get to dictate who gets to come into the city to attend an event that’s for everyone, regardless of where they might live. Also, third generation or not, if one chooses to live in a city, they need to understand that it’ll come with certain inconveniences at times. I accepted that a long time ago.
Right to Party?
Seriously?
People have a right to come into the city and enjoy themselves.
Know what they don't have a right to do and then claim its just fun? Destroy property, deficate/urinate on the street or property, attack people, attack each other, destroy subway cars, litter, get drunk and scream a lot, etc.
If what went down Tuesday is "enjoying yourself", you need an intervention.
straw "living in the city comes with inconveniences" argument
Just because living in a city "comes with certain inconveniences", it still does not excuse large blocks of people coming in from elsewhere and acting like brutish idiots. It does not speak well of suburbanites, Patriots fans or humanity in general.
The trouble is, however, that the bad apples, even though
they're not necessarily in the majority, all too often are the ones who set the tone, and incite people to act that way who probably wouldn't act that way ordinarily.
Mmmm yaaaaaa
Good luck with giving people an extra 4 days to plan and prep for being even more drunk and roudy during a Saturday parade.
Case dismissed, NEXT!
At least if the parades were
At least if the parades were on Saturdays, the city and transit system (which already can barely handle its average weekday workload) wouldn't already be at capacity, and the people trying to get to/from work wouldn't be delayed (and possibly punished by their employers, or maybe having to deal with the fallout of childcare at home) through no fault of their own.
If the parade was on a Saturday, I could choose to avoid it, instead of being forced to work around it. (Or go, if I wanted!)
he derails his own argument by disputing the bill
Kraft may be able to afford to pay for a parade but why would he? The parade would just move from Bostong. It is an interesting idea to have the parade in Worcester, perhaps? Portland? Or Foxborough?
A Saturday parade wouldn't have to compete with rush hour. It would increase business by a larger margin.
Providence
Might even be closer to Gillette Stadium than Boston is. But the result would be even worse, with everyone here jampacking every single MBTA and Amtrak train and Peter Pan bus from South Station to there.
1.5 million people anywhere would be tough
Boston has the best infrastructure in the region to handle it.
Mmmmm....
Not necessarily. Boston is way too small, and way too congested to handle this kind of a thing. That's why having the 2024 Olympics here in Boston is a bad, bad idea.
So
Which New England city has the best infrastructure to handle a crowd of 1.5 million? And please, explain your answer. To the previous suggestion, I would note the lack of rail transit options.
Come on
I momentarily scanned this as "weekly" instead of "weekday", and thought about how we long suffering Boston sports fans haven't had a championship parade in a little over three months. We had to endure three whole Pats losses since then. We were due.
Skilled, talented Planners.
Planning and development for public events requires skills and talents not readily available around Boston. New, more Staff required at https://www.boston.gov/departments/tourism-sports-and-entertainment
For example, not only a Parade but concurrent events at nearby venues offering visitors other choices particularly when parade sidelines are crowded.
He had me until "mollycoddled players"
I'm not a fan of the parades (or football), but let's focus on ways to celebrate that don't tie up the city and transit system rather than taking an opportunity to trash pro athletes.
It's in player contracts (at least in MLB, I assume NFL as well) that any celebrations be held within a couple of days of the win, and I can understand why. Many (most?) of the players don't live in the Boston area. They want to be with their families. They are also physically beat-up and exhausted after the post-season.
I'm not a football fan at all but I can have sympathy for guys who've had months of brutal physical abuse (even if it's well-paid abuse) who don't want to hang around Boston for a week waiting for a parade.
They could wait
The players were able to fly down to Disney for the day and fly back. They could also fly home for a few days and fly back on the weekend for the parade.
But, my, this is a good problem to have. So much winning! It won't last forever and we will eventually be back to years between parades.
Oh, I love the jolly rattle
Oh, I love the jolly rattle
Of an ordeal by battle,
There's an end of tittle, tattle,
When your enemy is dead.
Its an arrant molly coddle
Fears a crack upon his noddle,
And he's only fit to swaddle
In a downy feather bed!
You'd think that as a former
You'd think that as a former head of Mass DOT, his reaction would be that this parade has helped more suburban residents appreciate the value and condition of the MBTA.
Instead, he's ranting against the parade itself? It's sad that he must be so not-busy that he's been stewing over this stupid issue for days, to rant at such length about it.
Weekday championship parades are common
And by that I don't mean that Boston wins a lot of championships.
In the past year, in addition to the Red Sox and Patriots, the Golden State Warriors and Washington Capitals won titles. They both had Tuesday parades to celebrate. I did a search a few days ago, and most Super Bowl parades were on Tuesdays, with notable exception of the Philadelphia Eagles, who waited until Thursday (there was probably a reason I was too lazy to track down.) The Cubs' celebration 2 years ago was one of the largest gatherings ever, and it was on a Friday. Somehow, all these cities were able to handle the crowds. And it should be noted that a certain East Rutherford New Jersey franchise celebrated in the nearest big city when they won (not that we want to remember those victories.)
I guess the big takeaway is that we need less people to come out to celebrate championships. Honestly, I was surprised that so many people showed up for the third Super Bowl in 5 years.
That said, speaking as a sports spoiled Bostonian, we are talking 4 days a year, tops.
The weather brought a lot of folks out
With temperatures in the 60s on Tuesday, it was probably 15 degrees warmer than the Red Sox parade in October (which was also blessed with good weather).
After reading about what the MBTA was like, I'm glad that I biked to and from this event. Parking was easy on Clarendon Street!
Gillette Stadium is in Foxboro
Hold the future parades there.
Opposite direction
He opens the article with: "Worcester Train 522 (5:20 pm inbound) is stopped at Boston Landing due to an unruly passenger and is currently 90-100 minutes behind schedule."
If that was in order to add extra trains outbound, which is the direction most workers and parade goers would be going, then it is a sacrifice that makes sense to move passengers more efficiently given the crowds.
Oy.
Oy.
I hope nobody on that train was trying to catch a flight.
Sure, hold an inbound to let some outbounds through. But is a 100-minute delay really the best we can do with the existing tracks?
it sucks but...
use a vaca/sick day. Seriously. I used to work with folks in the Longwood area that would take marathon monday off every year, they didnt want to deal with the headache. It sucks to have to do that, but the marathon isnt ever going to be on a weekend and most businesses dont give patriots day off.