Keep the Spirit of St. Patrick and Democracy in the NYC St. Patrick’s Day Parade”

Nov 1, 2015 — Dear Supporter of the Petition to Keep St. Patrick and Democracy in the NYC St. Patrick’s Day Parade

As you may be aware, the St. Patrick’s Day Inc. Board meeting for October 29th, in which changes to the bylaws were to be enacted that would fundamentally change the meaning of the NYC St. Patrick’s Day Parade, was canceled. This was because you and your fellow signers of the petition made clear that you want to keep the NYC St. Patrick’s Day Parade a celebration of our Patron Saint, our faith, our heritage and our patriotism. That the petition was able to garner over 4,000 signatures in less than a week shows the level of commitment the community has to this beloved institution. Your voice was loudly heard even behind the still closed doors of the St. Patrick’s Day Inc. boardroom. We sincerely thank you.

As important as this victory is, it is only a reprieve. We regret that Dr. Lahey and the Board still choose not to engage in dialogue with the Affiliated Organizations, but continue to engage in monologue through the media. Dr. Lahey bemoans “There is a lot of confusion and misinformation”. We agree, and for this sad state of affairs Dr. Lahey must shoulder the responsibility by holding meetings where representatives guaranteed by the By-Laws (a provision Dr. Lahey ironically cites to the press as an indication that Affiliated Organizations still have representation) are banned and meetings moved to new venues with no prior notice. The remedy for “confusion and misinformation” is transparency and two-way dialogue, an obvious solution that Dr. Lahey and the Board still choose not to embrace.

We expect that Dr. Lahey and the Board will now use parallel, on-going legal action as a reason for continuing to not engage the Affiliated Organizations directly. With nothing but past practice by Dr. Lahey and the Board to guide us, we anticipate that they may wait for public scrutiny to die down and then call a “lightning meeting” of the Board to pick up again the agenda of the canceled 10/29 meeting. We ask your continued support and please keep yourself aware of new developments by following our website http://www.changesaintpatricksnyc.com/ and friend our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Change-Saint-Patricks-NYC-1621963641396942/?ref=hl .

Thank you again for taking the time to speak our to preserve and keep our faith and traditions alive.