Kadner: O’Shea lacks clout to stop Irish parade

• Reprints

Updated: February 19, 2012 8:16AM

Did the G-8 economic summit slated for Chicago help revive the South Side Irish St. Patrick’s Day Parade?

“There seemed to be a feeling among the Chicago legal department that they wanted to make sure all parade permits were handled consistently because they’re expecting some challenges when the G-8 gathering comes to town (in May),” one source told me.

The South Side Irish Parade down Western Avenue is being revived March 11 after the celebration was suspended the past two years due to public drunkenness and lewd behavior by revelers.

While the Beverly community seems split about reviving the parade, Ald. Matt O’Shea (19th) has been outspoken in his opposition.

O’Shea not only told Mayor Rahm Emanuel he didn’t want the parade in his ward but released a letter he wrote to the mayor denouncing the event in the strongest terms.

“I am writing to draw your attention to the potential public safety threat created by the parade, as well as its potential cost to the City of Chicago,” O’Shea wrote to Emanuel. “Sadly, in recent years, this previously family-oriented parade has degenerated into (a) rowdy, dangerously overcrowded and sometimes lawless event fueled by public drunkenness.”

O’Shea said he reviewed the plan submitted by the organizers of this year’s parade to the city and “found their plan sorely lacking, and as such, I am formally requesting that the City of Chicago deny the current parade permit application.”

On his 19th Ward website, O’Shea has an open letter to community residents stating: “I could not in good conscience support the return of the South Side Irish Parade until the Parade Committee can implement a proper safety plan to prevent rowdy, drunken and often violent behavior that has become synonymous with the parade in recent years.

“Moreover, I have argued that parade organizers should reimburse the City for the $300,000 in services and police protection associated with this two-hour event in the past.”

He then urges his constituents to contact the Chicago Department of Transportation if they have any concerns about the parade.

From my experience, the mayor of Chicago has always given aldermen veto power over any projects or events in their ward. It was Ald. Ginger Rugai (19th) who led the campaign to end the South Side Irish Parade three years ago.

So it seemed strange to me that O’Shea would not only be ignored when he asked the city not to issue the parade permit but would publicly tell everyone that he really, really doesn’t want the parade but has no clout at city hall.

One source told me that several people at city hall indicated to O’Shea that the city is facing close scrutiny because of the G-8 summit and doesn’t want to do anything that might attract lawsuits over public gatherings.

However, a major booster of the parade, Jim “Skinny” Sheahan, who served for nine years as special events coordinator for Mayor Richard M. Daley, said aldermen never had veto power over parade permits.

“It’s a federal thing, the constitutional right to gather in public, and that was always the only issue when I was special events coordinator,” Sheahan said.

“The alderman wasn’t allowed to approve or disapprove.”

And several sources told me they believe the fundamental right of people to gather in public is the sole issue dictating the city’s decision in this case, and it has nothing to do with the G-8 economic summit.

At least one source, however, told me that there was a sense, “a sort of a winking thing going on” that a Jewish mayor didn’t want to be the guy who killed an Irish parade in the Beverly community.

Joe Connelly, the parade committee chairman, told me his wife grew up in St. Barnabas Parish, and they returned to live in Beverly about four years ago to raise their children.

“And the first year we hosted a parade party and it was a lot of fun for everyone, and when the parade disappeared, we missed it,” Connelly said.

“We went to the parade each year when we dated, we returned to our in-laws house for the parade each year when we lived on the North Side of Chicago and later in Western Springs. We just feel it is a wonderful part of living in the Beverly community.”

To help pay for a private security firm to police the event, Connelly said parade organizers will hold a fundraising event Feb. 18 at 115 Bourbon Street in Merrionette Park.

They also plan to sell street light banners to businesses along Western Avenue, T-shirts along the parade route and maps of Ireland for $5 in local bars.

I was told by several people that parade organizers didn’t have to use clout to get the permit, they just had to follow the rules.

Yep. That’s the way things always work in Chicago.