On St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, 2018, the very day set aside to remember our Irish history, the City Council of Alexandria, Virginia, without provocation or explanation, stripped the Irish name “Fitzgerald” from the waterfront park project in Old Town Alexandria. Instead of celebrating Alexandria’s deep Irish and patriotic past, the City Council renamed the park after a street recalling our colonial subjugation.
They did this in front of the Warehouse and public buildings once owned by Irish immigrant Col. John Fitzgerald,
·      An AmericanRevolutionary War hero,
·      A compatriot in arms of George Washington in the struggle against King George,
·      The successful defender of Alexandria against British in the Revolutionary War,
·      Former Mayor of Alexandria, and
·      The founder of the first Catholic church in Virginia and promotor of religious freedom
…in that very place where John Fitzgerald built Irish Alexandria, the City Council of Alexandria renamed the Fitzgerald Square project to the King Street Park at the Waterfront.

We the undersigned
1.    Demand that the City Council of Alexandria and the Planning Commission of Alexandria immediately restore the name Fitzgerald Square to the waterfront project and
2.    Institute changes to the project plans that emphasize the City’s deep Irish past and current culture.