Kenney addresses Mummers incidents

Newly installed Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney offered some opinions on incidents surrounding the Mummers Parade. 

Several incidents — including a protest, an assault and questionable actions by Mummers on Broad Street  — took place during the New Year’s Day celebrations.  It’s all part of the festival, Kenney said Monday.”There’s been lots of strides that the Mummers Parade has made over the years, but there is always one dumb thing that happens that really does affect people and offend people,” he said, referring to  homophobic displays and racial insensitivity. “We have to try to start over, and we’re working on that with the human relations commission  and our LGBT affairs leader Nellie Fitzpatrick.”Kenney also said it’s virtually impossible to control the widespread public drinking that occurs along the parade route and on Second Street afterwards.”When you have a tradition that is as long as it is, more then 100 years, it’s been part of the tradition for a long time,” he said. “I think that it is crazy for us to ask officers to take beer out of people’s hands and create that interaction.”