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City hosts Super Bowl parade and Super Tuesday

BY KARLA SCHUSTER | karla.schuster@newsday.com

February 5, 2008

New Yorkers will celebrate a Super Bowl champion today and make their mark on the Super Tuesday presidential primaries - the first time in years that the city has had a starring role in either contest.

The Giants, who upset the New England Patriots 17-14 in the Super Bowl, will be honored with a ticker-tape parade along the Canyon of Heroes on Broadway at 11 a.m. A City Hall ceremony will follow at 1 p.m.

"It is a special day," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said yesterday, when asked about the convergence of the Super Bowl celebration and the primaries. Changes in the primary calendar and a wide-open race in both parties mean that New York State voters, for the first time in years, will affect the choice of the parties' nominees.

"The most special part is democracy ... if it takes a sporting event to remind us of that, of what's great about America, so be it," he said, dismissing a question about why the city scheduled the parade for primary day. "One has nothing to do with the other."

Bloomberg refused to estimate how much the parade and ceremony would cost, or predict how many people will flood lower Manhattan for the celebration. In 2000, more than one million people - some estimates were as high as two million - attended the Yankees' parade. "In the grand scheme of a 60-odd billion budget, the cost of this is so trivial," he said.

"It's been eight years since the last parade - not that I've been counting," joked the mayor, who returned from Arizona early yesterday morning. "I'm just glad Big Blue came through."

The forecast calls for temperatures in the 50s, but also for rain. Paradegoers are encouraged to arrive early and take public transportation. Only those attending the ticketed City Hall Park ceremony will be searched.

Street closures begin at 7 a.m. and will remain in effect until about 3 p.m. Pedestrians will be able to cross only a handful of intersections along the route.

"It'll definitely be the equivalent of a gridlock alert day," said Deputy Police Commissioner Paul Browne.

The city will be giving away donated shredded newspaper for fans to toss as the Giants make their way on donated floats up Broadway. "Just don't throw anything heavy out the window," the mayor said.

Staff writer Rocco Parascandola contributed to this story.