The long and short of it is, the city is cutting back on its famous parades to save money.
The NYPD yesterday announced it would be trimming city parade routes by 25 percent and limiting their festivities to five hours in a bid to save more than $3 million.
“The changes were made as a result of reductions in the Police Department’s budget for planned events, and are expected to save $3.1 million and will avoid cuts to essential police services, such as conventional crime suppression, counterterrorism and investigations generally,” an NYPD statement said.
But the starting date for the cutbacks — April 1 — means the luck is still with the Irish.
That’s because the St. Patrick’s Day Pa rade will be held on March 17, two weeks before the deadline.
The parade’s grand marshal is Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.
Officials said there was not enough time between now and the middle of next month to shorten the March 17 parade.
Not so lucky is the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, which will be shortened by up to 10 blocks. Under the new edict, that parade, which usually starts at West 77th Street and travels south to Herald Square, would start at West 67th Street.
The new routes could mean overcrowded sidewalks and, eventually, fewer spectators for such Fifth Avenue staples as the Puerto Rican Day Parade and Columbus Day Parade, as well as Brooklyn’s Labor Day Parade.
“We have over 2 million people on the avenue, and cutting those blocks will make it difficult for people to watch the parade,” griped Madelyn Lugo, chairwoman of the Puerto Rican Day Parade. “They won’t have space for everybody.”
But Deputy Mayor Ed Skyler said, “The mayor has made it clear that New Yorkers can’t afford a tax increase now”
“Reducing the length and duration of parades across the board is a sensible way to save money . . . and a far better choice than having to further reduce the size of the Police Department.”