RAINING ON MY PARADE?

“And he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room,” (Luke 14:9)

It’s become a tradition for my 21-year-old daughter Rachel and me to attend the Natick 4th of July parade together, and  this year was no exception.  We’ve got it all down to a routine.  We get up early and take portable outdoor chairs with us.  We pick up coffee and juice and doughnuts, and I bring the MetroWest Daily News along to read before the parade starts.  Many years ago we began attending the parade every year with my friend the Rev. Stafford Trapp who was then pastor of First Baptist Church of Natick.  When Stafford and his family lived there, we’d drive to his Beacon Street home and walk down to a certain area of Route 27 where we’d sit and watch the parade.  Stafford moved to Marlborough over ten years ago, and although Rachel and I park off of  Washington Avenue, we always cross Route 27 and find a nice place to sit on the non-sidewalk part of the street.

About five minutes after we’d comfortably settled into a nice spot, a man called to us from his yard, “Are you with Don?” .  We replied that we were not, and I guess I should have realized that could mean there would be some kind of a problem.  About a minute later the same man called to us, “You know you’re on private property?!” Then, almost in the same breath he said, “Enjoy the fourth”.  I wasn’t quite sure if his, “Enjoy the fourth,” was sincere, or said out of a bit of annoyance.  It has always been my understanding that the four or five feet immediately off of a public roadway is NOT private property.  Rather, it belongs to the local municipality.  Often, the municipality will use that strip of land to construct a sidewalk, but even if they don’t, it’s still the property of the municipality.  I guess what I did next was probably NOT in the, “What Would Jesus Do?” category.  It was more in the category of,. “What Would Don Imus Do?” or “What Would Andy Rooney Do?”.

I said, “Really, I’m not on your property.  This is a strip of land owned by the Town of Natick where a sidewalk would go.”

“Do you see a sidewalk there?!” he defensively shot back.

“Well, no,” I answered, “But I know in the house I grew up in over in Canton, we had a strip of land by our property like this which looked like our property, but it was really ownedby the Town.”

He then said, “I SAID ‘Enjoy the Fourth’ didn’t I?!”

At that point, I just shut up, but the tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife.  My daughter Rachel asked me, “Dad, did you HAVE to argue with that guy?”  

“Well,” I said, “Who made the big deal about ‘you’re on private property’?”

We sat there for twenty more minutes and it was a very long twenty minutes!  Ultimately, Rachel said, “This is really awkward.  Do you think we should move?”

I agreed I was also very uncomfortable. We ended up moving across the street to the sidewalk side, and down the road far enough that we hoped Mr “Are you with Don?” would not see us!  It did drizzle off an on and at times I had to use my umbrella, but we did not allow that incident with the homeowner to “rain on our parade”.

This raises an interesting question:  in a case like we experienced with that homeowner, who’s“property” is it?  I have always understood that the land which is four to five feet immediately off of a roadway belongs to the Town or City and NOT to the person whose house is right there.  Maybe he mows the grass there, maybe his driveway runs over that strip, maybe he FEELS like it’s his property, maybe he THINKS it’s his property, but IS IT?  And, when a community such as Natick encourages people from far and wide to come to watch their parade, it is fitting and proper to sit in a locale such as Rachel and I originally picked?  I’d honestly love to know, and I think it would be great if someone in an official capacity could clear that issue up for everybody!