James Aloisi’s appeal for common sense might put him at odds with local sports fans.
The former Massachusetts Secretary of Transportation has urged Boston to stop holding weekday sports championship parades. Aloisi argued his case Tuesday in Commonwealth Magazine in the aftermath of the New England Patriots’ Super Bowl LIII victory parade, which drew an estimated 1.5 million attendees onto various city streets, claiming these events unfairly impact taxpayers and regular public transportation users.
“…Â The chaos, the intolerable inconvenience to everyday transit riders, the extraordinary and unfair burden placed on city and state resources, the unfair demands made of the MBTA and its commuter rail operator, and the (as yet) unknown costs of public safety and mobility measures all combine to make these events toxic, expensive, and borderline dangerous,” Aloisi writes.
The parade was held Tuesday because Patriots players and staff will break camp almost immediately in order to enjoy some rest and downtime.
Aloisi believes staging championship parades on weekends is more sensible because fewer riders use public transportation those days, and delays due to overcrowding and rowdy behavior would be shorter and happen less frequently than they did Tuesday.
Maybe Aloisi has a point? After all, the “broad smiles” he saw on the faces of parade-goers likely would be there six days after the Super Bowl.
