Signs posted along the St. Patrick's Parade route asking would-be attendees to wait until Saturday morning to begin saving seats are the city's latest salvo in its effort to keep sidewalks clear of chairs, buckets and other obstructions.
UPDATE, 12:30 p.m.: At its meeting Tuesday evening, the City Council Committee on Ordinance recommended a 24-hour limit on putting out chairs and other items. The story below has been updated.
HOLYOKE -- Signs posted along the St. Patrick's Parade route asking would-be attendees to wait until Saturday morning to begin saving seats are the city's latest salvo in its effort to keep sidewalks clear of chairs, buckets and other obstructions.
"No holding spaces for parade prior to 7 a.m. Saturday," the signs read.
A DPW crew clears chairs from the parade route in March, 2012.
As in years past, the rush to save prime viewing spots began well ahead of the main event. Earlier this week, buckets and planks, crime-scene tape and other space holders began appearing along the parade route, despite warnings from city officials that items would be removed.
Yesterday, WGGB reports, the city made good on its promise to keep the sidewalks clear, with DPW workers spending the morning loading chairs and other items into a dump truck to be hauled to the department's Canal Street headquarters.
"The city is going to do what it can to control the mess," Mayor Alex B. Morse told the television station.
The city responded in a similar fashion last year when placeholders began appearing nearly two weeks ahead of the parade date.
“We got a bunch of complaints that the sidewalks were being blocked by chairs and furniture and folks that walked and used wheelchairs couldn’t get through,” William D. Fuqua, general superintendent of the Department of Public Works, told The Republican at the time.
In March, 2012, City Council president Kevin Jourdain filed a motion to enact a new ordinance setting a firm time for when people may begin reserving viewing spots.
Jourdain's motion reads: "That an ordinance be created limiting to 72 hours the amount of time before a parade or other event that persons can leave chairs, ropes, tape barriers and other items along city sidewalks and tree belts."
The City Council Committee on Ordinance discussed the motion at its meeting Tuesday evening; at-large councilor Rebecca Lisi said the committee ultimately recommended a limit on saving spaces that would begin 24 hours before the parade.
Among the existing city ordinances regarding sidewalks is a passage outlining the duties of the police chief, which reads, "He shall take notice of all nuisances, impediments and obstructions in the streets, sidewalks, lanes, courts, public places and squares of the city and shall remove the same or take proper action in relation thereto."
The stretch of the parade route on Beech Street from Resnic Boulevard to Route 5 and along Route 5 to Myrtle Avenue was clear of furniture and other items early Wednesday morning.