By Bill Parry
It’s official.
Mayor Bill de Blasio will march in Sunday’s St. Pat’s for All Parade in Sunnyside.
“We’re delighted that he’ll be joining us,” Organizer Brendan Fay said. “I think a lot of people will be welcoming of the mayor for his support for our inclusiveness.”
Fay founded St. Pat’s for All in 1999 as an LGBT-friendly alternative to the traditional parade down Manhattan’s 5th Avenue which banned openly gay groups from marching under their banners. Now in its 16th year, the Queens march has grown into a community event that draws thousands each year.
“Mayor de Blasio coming to Sunnyside means a lot to all the people who are coming from around the other boroughs as well as the tri-state,” Fay said.
Getting to Sunnyside can be problematic, however, as the No. 7 subway line will not be running. Weekend service has been suspended between Times Square-42nd Street and 74th St.-Broadway by the MTA.
“It’s a hardship for the people but the buses are still running,” Fay said.
The Q32 and the Q60 runs from Manhattan to the parade route and straphangers can take the R train to 46th Street and switch to the Q104. Shuttle buses will run along the No. 7 line making stops at each subway station.
The St. Pat’s for All Parade steps off at 2 p.m. at 43rd Street and Skillman Avenue and will continue on to 56th Street in Woodside. The parade includes Irish organizations, immigrant community groups LGBT groups marching bands and bagpipers.
Marching for the first time will be the Historical Carriages of Central Park. It will be a homecoming for the group’s spokesman Steven Malone who was born and raised in Sunnyside.
“It’s an absolute honor to be able to march in the parade,” Malone said. “We are also bringing in carriage operators from all over North America for a convention this week, so hopefully we’ll bring along some out-of-towners and give them a look at my hometown.”
Malone has been the face of an industry that is fighting against de Blasio’s attempts to ban carriage horses from the streets.
“I’ll welcome him to my neighborhood,” Malone said. “I’ll be cordial, but I’ll also let him know that we’re not going to be run out of our neighborhood be it our jobs or our train yard.”
Malone is referring to the other hot-button issue that will await the Mayor and that is his push to develop the Sunnyside Yards. De Blasio has proposed building 11,250 units of affordable housing atop a deck built over the sprawling train yards despite objections from Gov. Andrew Cuomo and elected officials in western Queens.
Assemblywoman Catherine Nolan (D-Ridgewood) has added Sunnyside attorney Ira Greenberg to her staff to trouble-shoot legal problems expected to arise from the mayor’s project and other building developments that are planned.
“This is a critical time for our neighborhoods in western Queens,” Nolan said.
The anxiety level in Sunnyside is such that one community activist is planning to make T-shirts that say “Queens Lives Matter.”
Fay is aware that the mayor will encounter “a passionate and engaged community” that will “voice displeasure” with the mayor’s plans for the Yards and the horse carriage ban.
“He’ll also be cheered for his progressive political leadership and his support for immigration, wages and labor,” Fay said.
Reach reporter Bill Parry by e-mail at bparr
