Here is more on St. Patrick's Day and the fallout from the debauchery that happened on Saturday March 7th in the City of Hoboken. I personally had a great time during the parade and was mostly insulated from the vandalism and late night drunkenness. I had taken it upon myself to promise myself a good night's sleep before heading out for a few nightcaps.I went to the Elysian Cafe after 6PM to have my first beer and by then the crowds had died down. At the bar, people were drinking but were well behaved and having a good time. I walked home at about 11PM with a decent buzz on, but certainly not staggering, not even close. On my short walk home there were drunks wandering well littered streets but I didn't see anything that seemed too egregious as an offense to warrant further investigation. The house party behind my apartment had wound down at that point with no incidents that I was aware of so sleep was not a problem.
I did thoroughly enjoy the parade as I always have but during the daytime, I did notice a few issues that to me that were prominent safety concerns. I am not talking about the couple who had sex in the window on Washington Street, assuming they had tested clean for V.D. and used the appropriate protection. Their public sex act is not a safety concern but one of decorum and extremely poor taste.
Bill Bergin is correct to be concerned about the safety issues but needs to refrain from the Victorian moral outrage in my humble opinion. His job is to watch over the public safety not to be Hoboken's chastity belt. That notwithstanding, his points on the parade in terms of the safety aspect are well taken.
The real issue is safety and here are some examples I saw: The balconies between 8th and 9th Street were filled beyond normal capacity and there were many people on roof tops on Washington Street between 1st and 3rd. These are accidents waiting to happen. During the parade itself there were a few people already too drunk to even properly walk that I had spotted.
Now, if all but two bars opened before 11AM, how is it possible people are stupified by 12 noon? The answer is house parties. When people get too drunk to walk that is what causes accidents and emergency room visits. I guess my perspective was a little sheltered on that day. I love the parade but something must be done to prevent this in the future.
Two days later I am still getting emails from residents that were victims of vandalism or had other issues regarding the behavior of the out of town revelers causing damage or disturbances.
One resident had their heavy cast iron 120-year old finial on top of the decorative newel post broken off and another had their gazing ball stole from their front porch next door. Another resident reported that their building was "trashed", had two HPD visits for kids on the roof, and one HFD visit for 14 kids getting stuck in the elevator.
Email From Peter Cunningham sent Sunday March 8th:
Speaking with some of you, we can agree that yesterday's events were very disturbing to say the least, and that's out of the 5th Ward primarily. I cannot speak for other parts of the City, but I am sure it was bad, if not worse. I have to say I am disappointed over how our City was treated yesterday, without assessing blame other than on those that disrespected Hoboken yesterday.
What I can tell you is that I will work with the Administration and Council colleagues to ensure it never happens again. Please send me your comments.
Peter Cunningham
Email from David White, Hoboken resident Hoboken 24 years and father of three:
Hi Peter - I love the parade! I have for 24 yrs... BUT - I could not open my front windows. There was a party directly across the street from me which spilled out in the street. I could not open my rear windows as there were multiple parties in back yards . The police and ambulance noise were continuous till at least midnight.
At 2:00 in the afternoon I have to explain to my 4 and 5 yr olds why some "boy" was "peeing" on my neighbors stoop. The next morning, or should I say at noon on Sunday I had to explain to my 5 yr old why the street were filled with puke and and pizza, pizza boxes - thousands of cigarette butts and bottles, cans and cups, etc. I had to explain to her why we could not go into the kids book store next to East LA because was so much puke by the door we get in.
Also, I can not believe I have to expose my kids to stumbling drunks -fowl language and horrific behavior from people in our town and from outside of our town.
I am angry that our town is treated with such a lack of respect - and we as taxpayers have to pay to clean it up - and live in it!
I don't know what the answer is but I would gladly sacrifice the grand tradition of a St Patrick's day parade for a sanity and safety.
Respectfully,
David White
Here is a continuation of the St. Patrick's Day Reader Poll:
