No rest for the tender footed.
The New York St. Patrick's Day Parade will step off from its traditional starting point of 44th Street and Fifth Avenue next March 17.
And though the parade will officially terminate at 79th Street, marching units will disperse north of that point and so be able to pass in front of the American Irish Historical Society on 80th Street.
Parade chairman John Dunleavy said that the committee had been meeting with city officials in recent days and that those officials "could not have been more helpful."
The 250th parade, held last March 17, proceeded on a shorter route than the previous year's after the Bloomberg administration brought in new rules intended to shorten the routes and times of major city parades.
The result was a termination at 79th St. and no marchers passing in front of the AIHS, one of the route landmarks along with St. Patrick's Cathedral and the official reviewing stands adjacent to Central Parks in the 60s.
The Echo last week reported that the new parade starting point would be 46th St. This two block shift was widely discussed after the 2011 parade in the context of extending the march north of 79th St.
Mr. Dunleavy, however, said that this would not be the case and that 44th Street, where a street level clock shows the traditional 11 a.m. starting time, would remain the stepping off point.
Dunleavy said that additional meetings with city officials were anticipated as planning for the 2012 parade, to be headed by grand marshal Francis X. Comerford, further advanced.
