Please: No Public Drinking on St. Patrick’s Day

With the St. Patrick’s Day holiday and traditional South Boston parade approaching on Sunday, March 17, we urge our public safety officials to plan for enforcing the laws which prohibit drinking in public, especially by underage drinkers.

Last year in the aftermath of the South Boston parade, we found ourselves in the unfortunate position of riding the Red Line to the South Shore. The trains were packed with highly-inebriated, rowdy, under-age drinkers who were drinking openly on the trains and then flinging their empties around the train cars, striking other passengers. The platforms resembled war zones, with large-scale fights and scores of youths who were passed out left-and-right.

We realize that everyone wants to relax and have a good time on St. Patrick’s Day, but that is no excuse for our public safety officials to turn a blind eye to underage drinking and drinking in public. In addition, for those of us of Irish descent, the perception that being “Irish for a day” means drinking heavily is highly-insulting.

It is inevitable that with the high degree of public intoxication that is tacitly permitted by our public safety officials, there will be a tragedy. We urge our public officials to take steps ahead of time to stop this annual reign of dangerous mass chaos.