The U.S. women’s soccer team made everyone proud during the World Cup and now the city wants to give the champions a Big Apple-sized salute.
Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer called on Mayor Bill de Blasio yesterday to hold a ticker-tape parade down the Canyon of Heroes for the team this summer.
Brewer, who also launched a Change.org petition for the parade, said New York is the perfect spot to celebrate the team’s first championship in 16 years.
“These women are real role models for young women and we don’t have enough of them in sports,” she said.
Karen Hinton, a spokeswoman for the mayor’s office, said de Blasio was open to the proposal.
“The mayor’s office congratulates the U.S. women’s World Cup championship team on its tremendous achievement, and is currently exploring logistics and talking with the team and other partners about a possible ticker-tape parade,” she said in a statement.
A spokesman for City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito said she supports the proposal.
The United States Soccer Federation, the team’s governing body, said it hadn’t yet received a formal inquiry and didn’t know of any plans in New York or elsewhere for a parade.
Brewer pointed out that a woman has not been honored with a lower Manhattan parade since 1960, when the city celebrated figure skater Carol Heiss’ gold medal win at that year’s Winter Olympics. The soccer team is ideal for the heroes’ treatment, Brewer said, because they have inspired young girls around the city and beyond to pursue sports.
With school out, “from my perspective, the timing is great,” Brewer said.
The players don’t have strong ties to the city, but that’s hardly a disqualification for a parade, even if the canyon is these days largely reserved for local sports teams.
The first parade took place in 1886 to dedicate the opening of the Statue of Liberty and past processions have welcomed foreign dignitaries and guests ranging from Amelia Earhart to Nelson Mandela.The canyon is a “place of national celebration,” Brewer said.
The city’s Department of Citywide Administrative Services would coordinate the event, and Brewer said the permits should be easily obtained. The Alliance for Downtown New York, the business improvement district that oversees the area, said it is already ready for a celebratory ride in the Canyon of Heroes.
“The mayor, of course, decides who is honored at ticker-tape parades, but the Alliance stands ready to help if and when a parade is held,” the alliance said in a statement.
Brewer said she hopes something can be organized this month, bringing the inspirational team members to New York for a proper tribute.
“They show all young women, you can have these successes,” she said.
