I Didn't Know Fast Eddie Rendell Was Irish,..

Or maybe it was the promise off free, green beer?

Publisher pledges aid to St. Patrick's parade
By Josh Goldstein

Inquirer Staff Writer
The St. Patrick's Day Parade will go on.

Organizers of the 238-year-old parade are confident that - with a pledge of up to $20,000 from the owners of The Inquirer - they will raise the money needed to pay for services such as police and sanitation that the cash-strapped city said it wouldn't cover this year.

Philadelphia Media Holdings L.L.C., which owns The Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News, will match, dollar for dollar, donations to cover the $40,000 that the city said it would charge parade organizers.

"We are Philadelphians," Brian P. Tierney, the company's executive officer and the newspapers' publisher, said yesterday. "Even in these tough economic times, as local owners we want to support this community."

Prompted by an article in yesterday's Inquirer, Tierney called parade director Michael Bradley with the offer to bolster fund-raising efforts.

With Tierney's challenge, "there is no question in my mind we will raise it all," Bradley said.

Now, he said, he can refocus on the March 15 parade, which is to include more than 200 groups and 20,000 marchers.

A month ago, city representatives told organizers that they had to come up with $110,000 for expenses, Bradley said.

A shortened parade route dropped the cost to $30,000, plus another $10,000 for city-approved vendors for portable toilets and other services.

Already struggling to raise $70,000 in normal parade-related expenses, Bradley said he had worried the added expense would halt the parade.

Today, he said, he feels he has an angel looking over his shoulder.

"I see the advantage of locally owned newspapers. . . . They care about their community," Bradley said. "What a difference over some media conglomerate."

I guess even on the verge of bankruptcy, when Fast Eddie's got your back, you can throw money around like a drunken sailor, huh, Tierney?