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Credit union drops out of South Boston parade; to donate money it was going to spend to shelter for homeless vets
By adamg on Fri, 03/10/2017 - 2:04pm
The City of Boston Credit Union announced today it's dropping out of the St. Patrick's Day parade because of the exclusion of OutVets:
City of Boston Credit Union is extremely saddened by the decision of the South Boston Allied War Veterans Council to deny the OUTVETS organization a place in this year’s South Boston St. Patrick’s Day Parade. The Credit Union was prepared to sponsor and participate in this year’s parade, however, with the unveiling of the Council’s vote this week to exclude this group of veterans the Credit Union is no longer considering sponsorship or participation. City of Boston Credit Union takes pride in working with community organizations that welcome all people, with no room for discrimination. As a gesture of respect and appreciation for the service and sacrifices of all veterans City of Boston Credit Union will donate the funds which were allocated for the parade to the New England Shelter for Homeless Veterans and other veteran organizations.
The Allied War Veterans Council board is expected to meet tonight to reconsider its decision to bar OutVets from the parade.
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Comments
The New England Shelter for
The New England Shelter for Homeless Veterans was renamed the New England Center and Home for Veterans awhile ago as part of a major ongoing renovation project.
awesome...they are dropping
awesome...they are dropping like flies from that ridiculous parade.
I think it's too late for the Allied War Veterans to recover
They need to disband. Another group should form, properly representing the neighborhood, and run the parade next year. If they need help, they could look to Roslindale, Dorchester, Charlestown, Somerville, or any number of other communities that know how to run a parade annually without this unseemly controversy.
Alternate route
Start in Weymouth, then march through Braintree and into Quincy. That will save everyone from having to drive into the city where their parents used to live.
A better South Boston route
http://wp.streetwise.co/wp-content/uploads//2015/05/IndyCar-Boston-Grand...
get a life
boston is the capital city for all of the commonwealth of massachusetts. if that is a fact that upsets you, perhaps consider moving to a city that isn't the center of government.
Yeah that's not it
please, this isn't the event of the year for people 'forced' out of Southie by their families cashing and moving out?
Anyways, I'm not one to complain about the various rolling rallies or other parades - this is the capital of New England and that's a good thing. There's a lot of funny parochial baggage around this one though.
I agree. I really support our
I agree. I really support our veterans and am so proud of them for protecting our freedoms. I don't take them for granted. ALL of our veterans deserve our respect and our thanks.
But this particular group of hateful veterans really need to stop running this parade. Because I really don't want to call any veterans a bunch of assholes, but that's what these particular people are.
A bunch of hateful assholes.
Hateful
You sound like you are a bit hateful yourself.
Permit for parade?
I'm not a Boston resident, but if any group wants to have a parade, don't they have to apply for a permit from the city ahead of time?
The easiest thing for the city to do, is to just tell them they can't have the parade, period.
if the city denies a permit
due to an organization's political affiliation or other generally protected speech, the city would be violating the group's First Amendment rights.
As long as they don't affect public safety, they have every right to make their little parade. Just as everyone else has every right to call them out for being backasswards, not attend, divert funds to other more worthy causes, etc..
Personally I enjoy letting people have the chance to decide where they stand, publicly, for everyone to see. And apparently these winners have decided that the hill they want to die on is keeping one group out of their wee little parade.
That pesky Constitution
You usually have to have a reason to deny free assembly.
I answered my own question.
http://www.cityofboston.gov/transportation/raceparade.asp
In Boston, a permit is required for a parade.
If the City wants to deny the AWVC a permit for their parade (or is it a charade), they can.
Not so fast, newbie
Your theory was tried about 25 years ago. It got to the Supreme Court. Both in general and regarding this parade and its inclusion of gay groups no, the City cannot just deny them their permit.
Read for yourself.
(and for the record, I do see that they can allow or disallow anyone to march in their parade, but I thought this was already taken care of, and for OUTVets in particular, so why are we still talking about this- let them march!)
just cancel this already
every year this stupid parade gets headlines for being stuck in the past. it is a pointless event and should just be cancelled indefinitely.
This just made my day.
This just made my day. Good on them.
New England Center and Home for Veterans
One of the hidden gems at the Center is their employment assistance department. They have some excellent people who act as job search coaches who leave no stones unturned. If you are a vet looking to employment try them out!!
They don't discriminate against anyone.
Unfortunately...
They were in the news in 2015 and the reasons weren't good:
http://www.wcvb.com/article/5-investigates-concerns-about-boston-shelter...
That story was a hatchet job.
That story was a hatchet job. The state of disrepair in some parts of the building was a result of not throwing away money fixing things which were about to be gut renovated. The feds owned the building for 50+ years and ran into the ground. The current ownership put a lot of effort into fixing a massive backlog of deferred maintenance left over from the VA/GSA essentially abandoning parts of the building as they became run down.
Stop by and see for yourself
The entire building is under renovation and has been for some time. The 100 man shelter floor is probably the best in the entire region. Several floors of studio apartments have been added with one floor dedicated to female vets. When all of the extensive renovations have been completed the NECHV will be one of the best in the country. I know this from first hand experience.
Their employment assistance people are some of the best you will find. If you're a vet who is looking for a job they will work with every resource to find you a job. They don't give up and they don't discriminate against anyone.
Stop by and ask for a tour if you don't believe me.
As unfortunate as the Allied Vets decision is
It's awesome to see and hear all the support for all people of the LGBT community. Super proud of my city for showing huge support in opposition of this ass-backwards decision.
They can call this emergency meeting all they want but I think they're too little too late on this one.
Agreed. I'm proud of
Agreed. I'm proud of sponsors who are dropping out.
It seemed like Allied Veterans came around 2 years ago, but now that it's clear they didn't, sponsors in advance of next year's parade should boycott well in advance until this group steps aside for other organizers.
I agree.
It's too late for them to backpedal on this.
A previous comment I made, was the message it would show if they held the parade anyway, no one else except the AWVC marched and no one came out to watch. THAT would send a very strong message to them.
Nice sentiment
And I agree with the message you're trying to send. But...
Most parade participants and attendants don't really care about this issue. To them it's just a parade and/or a day to get drunk.