Holiday Détente

I love this city.  I was not born here, and I only lived here for about five years; but I have worked her for ten.  Nonetheless, I am smitten.

In previous blogs and columns I have shared in detail the things I value here, including the diversity, resident participation, volunteerism and location.  But the recent Thanksgiving Day parade, which I was fortunate enough to be involved with, reminded me of an important derivative that has evolved from the city’s principle attributes.  The place is like a family, a family of 70 thousand people, but a family no less.  I can tell you that those of us who are not from here appreciate it in ways that natives may not.  

It hit me while I was conducting interviews and describing the events of the parade for New Rochelle TV.  The people I spoke with and the marchers I described were made up of those same people who you see at city hall resident meetings or at that the opening of some new business or public venue.  They are the same people who work on the school board or give their time to erect the floats that glided down Main Street. The Mayor and the City Council members were there, the whole of them who made news last week over their disagreements over Echo Bay.  The veterans were there as was their titular leader Peter Parente, who often finds himself at odds with the city over the future of the Armory.  So too was Jim Killoran, the head of Habitat, who champions the downtown, and who himself has had his scraps with city hall.

The floats, marchers and businesses represented the four corners of the city, as well as participants from nearby towns and villages.  Our cops and firefighters were both on the job and in the show, as were the public works and parks and recreation teams.  And true to the city’s roots there were no ethnic or racial groups small enough to count.  It was and is our own melting pot.

I am not a Pollyanna.  The political battles and old grudges will endure as they do in any group or family.  I am writing this piece as the outsider I am to share an observation:  The very entities that often butt heads to fight for what they believe is best for this city, are the same people who can be counted on in their fullness to love, celebrate and protect it.  I hope that your love of New Rochelle and your ability to come together as you have for the holidays can extend into an attempt to find common ground as you wrestle with the issues of the day.

Maybe it takes an outsider to see it; but you have something special here.  But it is delicate, and you should take care not to break it.

Happy Thanksgiving to one and all.