NYC Relents, Allows Veterans to Host Memorial Day Parade in the Face of Lawsuit
New York City caved to pressure from Republicans by greenlighting this year’s Memorial Day parade in Staten Island — the lone GOP stronghold among NYC’s five boroughs.
The move came two months after Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio initially rejected the permit application for Staten Island’s 102nd Memorial Day parade, citing coronavirus concerns.
Keep in mind that New York allowed countless Black Lives Matter protests and riots during the past year even though many demonstrators didn’t wear masks or socially distance, so to prohibit an outdoor event that honors fallen veterans defies scientific facts about the coronavirus and is a slap in the face to patriots.
Attorney Brendan Lantry, the former chairman of the Staten Island Republican Party, represents the United Staten Island Veterans Organization, which sought the permit for the May 31 parade.
Lantry told the New York Post on Monday that he had planned to sue the city if it didn’t grant the permit. Fortunately, the city relented.
“We shouldn’t have to go to court to march in a parade to support our fallen veterans,” he said. “Thankfully we didn’t have to do that because this isn’t political.”
Lantry is thrilled that local residents can gather together to honor fallen soldiers who perished while valiantly fighting for their country.
“We’re so happy and ecstatic by the overwhelming support by Staten islanders and non-Staten islanders to show support for our veterans and for the Memorial Day Parade,” he said.
Councilman Joe Borelli agreed, saying the city made the right decision.
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“This was the only possible outcome,” the Republican said in a statement. “I think it just took a few seconds for the folks to really think about what they were doing by not issuing it. This is a good step for our community.”
While the city finally made one correct decision, it’s otherwise drowning in a cesspool of destructive moves it has made during the tenure of its inept Democratic mayor.
After decimating its own economy with extended coronavirus shutdowns and draconian restrictions, New York is still reeling from a self-created recession.
The Democrat-controlled city is also suffering an alarming crime wave, thanks to police pullbacks fueled by the left’s “defund the police” hysteria.
While the streets of New York have devolved into crime-infested killing fields thanks to left-wing policies, one of its leftist lawmakers, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, spent tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars on personal security to keep herself safe.
In the first three months of this year, Ocasio-Cortez spent more than $39,000 on security, and other far-left members of Congress spent similar amounts.
Let this sink in: These Democrats hire armed security guards to protect themselves while demonizing all police as racists who hunt down black people for no reason and championing nationwide police defunding.
In July — when the U.S. had been roiled by two straight months of Black Lives Matter race riots — AOC criticized New York’s mayor for agreeing to slash $1 billion from the New York Police Department’s $6 billion budget.
At the time, AOC said the budget cut didn’t go far enough. “Defunding police means defunding police,” she said at the time.
Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who has extensively covered the city’s collapse under Democratic leadership, warned last week that New York’s disintegration would have a tragic fallout on the rest of the country.
“New York today looks like New York in the 1970s, but without Studio 54,” he said. “The city has once again become dirty, chaotic and dangerous. The parks and train stations look like refugee camps for mentally ill drug users. Just as in the 1970s, a lot of people who live in New York are fleeing. In fact, maybe you’re one of them.”
Carlson continued: “What happens in New York affects all of us. In the end, we’ll have to pay for the damage anyway, so we might as well root for the best outcome.”
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
