Set for Let’s Get Hammered, Act Stupid Day
There has been no shortage of mind-boggling presentations at St. Catharines city council over the years.
You can count the unveiled St. Patrick’s Day strategy from last week as another one.
Listening to Brad Clarke of Brock University talk about community preparations for March 17 was exasperating, welcoming, disheartening, encouraging, maddening and bewildering. Maybe just call it surreal.
Now, don’t get me wrong. This has nothing to do with the strategy itself. The approach is sensible and Clarke explained it well.
It’s the necessity for spending so much time, energy and resources on this plan of action that makes one want to shake their head in disbelief or woe.
Alas, that’s become the sad reality of St. Patrick’s Day for municipalities that are home to colleges and universities.
Not sure when the tipping point occurred — perhaps it’s just been a gradual evolution — but St. Paddy’s Day has gone from a relatively minor celebratory occasion highlighted by the drinking of a few glasses of green draft beer to a sort of national Let’s Get Hammered and Act Stupid Day.
OK, let’s try that again.
For the vast majority of people, St. Patrick’s Day is a still a harmless and fun time to wear something green, try out a bad Irish accent and maybe enjoy a beer or three.
The celebration of Let’s Get Hammered and Act Stupid Day is generally restricted, although not exclusively, to younger people, many of whom attend university or college.
Today’s youth aren’t exactly re-inventing the wheel in consuming hearty amounts of alcohol when partying on March 17. The difference from yesteryear is how they can quickly congregate in very large numbers and then act carelessly or recklessly as
members of unruly mobs are wont to do.
That’s what happened last year in St. Catharines when a series of planned parties on student-house-heavy Jacobson Avenue, which runs parallel to and has entrances into the Pen Centre, drew about 3,500 revellers to the scene.
The parties melded together at some point in the afternoon and spilled onto the street, creating havoc for mall-exiting motorists and, presumably, causing great consternation among non-student residents in the neighbourhood.
The booze-fuelled anarchy was embarrassing for municipal authorities and a black eye for Brock. Thus, the establishment of a community war room almost immediately following last year’s debacle.
The fruits of war-room members’ labours were revealed at the last city council meeting. If only countries in the Middle Ages had prepared so well for the invasion of Mongols.
As noted, the strategy seems sound and should provide a sense of comfort for citizens.
The key is nipping things in the bud. Doesn’t matter how many cops you have on patrol. If hundreds of partiers have already gathered on one block, you’re pretty much screwed.
To prevent this from occurring, a pro-active approach has been adopted. Visits have been made and warning messages delivered to high-density student neighbourhoods and known partyhearty residences.
On-campus security staff will be patrolling these neighbourhoods to spot brewing trouble spots and contact Niagara Regional Police before revelry gets out of hand. Social media chatter about large parties will be monitored, too.
Brock has also hired off-duty NRP officers to monitor daylight shenanigans, and the NRP will have its own special patrols during the night.
As well, Brock’s student union is hosting a major St. Patrick’s Day celebration at its on-campus pub in a bid to keep partiers off the street.
Let’s Get Hammered and Act Stupid Day isn’t going to go away. Here’s hoping we can at least lessen its impact on the community.