The Great July 4 Crush, Again

Beacon Hill and Back Bay are among the very safest of Boston’s up-scale neighborhoods and it is this reality that makes what is ahead in the next few days so compelling.

The July 4 celebration will attract about a half-million people to the Esplanade.

Hundreds of thousands of men, women and children, old and young, rich and poor, black and white, English speaking and Spanish speaking, Moslem, Christian, Jewish, Catholic and everything else will be passing through our neighborhoods.

If all the years past are an indication of what will occur, then we are again facing one the great miracles of Boston culture and American society – a Fourth of July celebration without an arrest, without a fight, without a harsh incident with a half-million people on hand.

About the only downside to the event is the miasma of trash that the huge crowd leaves behind at the Esplanade and on our streets and sidewalks. There are literally tons of trash left behind by the end of the festivities.

That amazing tonnage of trash and garbage requires hundreds of thousands of dollars of precious man hours of labor and the use of trucks and fuel and bags to collect and then to haul away.

If this part of the celebration could be curbed, that is, to curtail or to eliminate the propensity of so many Americans to casually dump their trash wherever they sit of stand, something of great proportion will have been born.

Our streets and sidewalks and gutters are the hardest hit by the huge crowds, and so we urge the city to once again be vigilant in sweeping up what is left behind.

We urge the Boston Police, once again, to be out in force to stand present against any form of aggressive behavior by those celebrating on the Esplanade before during and after the big evening.

It is that vigilance and  care that combines with the overall appearance of control that  makes this event such a safe venue for all those who come to enjoy it.

But it isn’t just the police in force as a reminder that keeps the peace.

It is the make-up of the crowd itself which amazingly translates into a very passive time virtually absent of public intoxication and drug use, violence and aggressive behavior.

In this respect, we show the world what a fabulous city this is, what an extraordinary neighborhood this is, and it puts an exclamation point onto the idea shared by many residents about the quality of life that is alive here and the safety that abounds.

The Fourth of July 2012 is upon us.

The great get together is about to occur.

We urge the residents of Beacon Hill and Back Bay to once again tolerate the enormous crowds about to descend into our neighborhoods and to pass through them on their way to the party on the Esplanade.

This breaks the relative quiet of the neighborhoods but it also says to the world outside what an extraordinary and unique quality of life exists here – even when gargantuan crowds fill the our streets and sidewalks.

Happy holiday to all.

Enjoy the fireworks.

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