St. Patrick's celebrations

[jordan2423]

You forgot about Mel's Diner, and local night clubs. Who also increased cover cost, knowing how busy they were going to be by literally doubling he price. If you saw the line at one of the night clubs you would think they were lining up for Michael Jackson as he came back to life.

But do we know this?  Have you worked in the industry? I have. And it's not a boon at all. St. Patrick's day should be a good day to most places regardless of the Ezra event, but having done work for an owner that operates in that area (20 years), the year-over-year sales have *decreased* rather than increase over the past few years. Why? Because of this unsanctioned party. St. Paddy's, along with homecoming, was the cash cow. Now St. Patrick's is like any other day.  Why would someone go to a restaurant and pay $5+ per drink, when they a beer will cost them $1.50 on Ezra?

It's not a matter of 'old folks' not wanting the younger crowd to have fun.  What the issue is is the cost to region for an event that is not helpful, nor open, to really anyone.  If it was revenue positive, you would have heard about it by now. If there was a benefit to the region, you'd have heard about it by now.

As for underage drinking, that is not OK.  And the drain on the services is not OK. Just remember, when an ambulance is picking up another drunk student, that's time taken away potentially from someone that needs medical help.  It's not a matter of "if" but "when" something happens. This is referred to as a "Code Red" -- when a ambulance is not available for dispatch. If you think that a students right to party illegally is more important than having emergency services available, then you really need to give you head a shake. Personally, I'm not OK with ambulances wasting their time picking up drunks when some senior on the other side of the city is having a heart attack...or if some kid gets run over by a car.

619 charges laid this year for the Ezra event. Now we have the courts all tied up. I don't have the current numbers for other events, for example, Oktoberfest, but IIRC, it was less than 100.

If the Laurier and Waterloo want to team up and hire paramedics, security, police, etc., and leave the region out of it, I'm fine with that. They can set up a tent somewhere to deal with passed out students and leave Grand River Hospital and St. Mary's out of it too.  But guess what, that would never happen because it would create major legal issues if something happened.

Sorry, but no excuse for the illegal party. Make it legal, raise funds for charity, charge admission, open it to everyone, have it licensed, etc.  Bingeman's has their Everafterfest, and that's mostly geared to 18-25 year olds, who actually are coming from all over Canada and US and bring real benefits to the city and region, (despite some angry locals at having loud music blaring past 6PM).

First of all, "hearing about it by now" is just an assumption you made to believe to be true, with nothing backing it.
Secondly, Mr. Strawman, I never said students have the right to party illegally. 

If you actually read what I wrote, I said the city should make it a sanctioned even ON Ezra, because the fact of the matter is, attempting to get students off of Ezra isn't going to work, understand?

So yes, sanction the event on Ezra, but don't sanction it in the way where you only have a short window of oppurtunity to enter the event with a ticket, and don't sanction it in a way that if you leave the event you're not allowed to get in. These are all things that aren't going to work. Understand?

Here's a great idea i found on reddit:

It is time to pave the cow path:

There’s a great pattern developing in Waterloo:

• Talk about how bad it is that Erza Ave is a crazy party on St Patrick’s day
  
  
• Rattle some sabres about how it wont be tolerated anymore
  
  
• The city devotes their twitter feed to being safe on St. Patrick’s day for the week prior. (Which seems odd, their twitter following seems more “parents wondering when summer camp registration starts” and less “students looking to party”)
  
  
• It’s an uncontrolled party: Drone Footage, 22,000 attendees, 614 charges laid, 52 hospitalized, 1 in critical condition (and that's just what you get from the /r/waterloo front page) 
  

My proposal: Pave the cow path. People show up there, people want to party there. Rather than try to shut it down, make it a great party:

• Close the street
  
  
• Allow drinking on the street for people of age with a wrist band (costs $1, bring your ID to the booth at either end of the street)
  
  
• Invite food & drink vendors
  
  
• Invite apartment buildings to rent out their parking lots to vendors
  
  
• Throw up a music stage or two 
  
  
• Put up a first aid tent
  
  
• Use money from vendor licenses & wrist bands to help pay for private security.
  

Is that the best place in the city for that party to take place? No. But the party remains there despite the city’s best efforts. Rather than failing to shut it down, make it a little better, and a lot safer.