NYC mayor wants to throw parade for health care workers

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said he will throw a ticker-tape parade for all the health care workers and first responders fighting the coronavirus pandemic as soon as it’s safe to do so. De Blasio made the announcement during his daily briefing on Tuesday.

“We will honor those who saved us,” de Blasio said. “The first thing we will do, before we think about anything else, is we will take a time, as only New York City can do, to throw the biggest, best parade to honor these heroes.”

“This parade will mark the beginning of our renaissance,” he continued. “But it will also be, most importantly, a chance to say thank you to so many good and noble people, so many tough, strong people.”

New York City has a long history of honoring national heroes, world leaders and sports champions with parades through the “Canyon of Heroes,” a stretch of Broadway from the southern tip of Manhattan to City Hall. The U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team was the last to be honored after winning the World Cup last year. 

“Many, many great heroes have gone down that canyon,” de Blasio said. “But I think this will be the greatest of all the parades, because this one will speak to the rebirth of New York City.”

He later tweeted after the briefing was over that the parade would be held “when the time is right.” The city has already said no major public events would be held through at least June.