by Michael Monks
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THE RIVER CITY NEWS MORE COVINGTON NEWS THAN ANY OTHER SOURCE
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Mainstrasse's reputation as the region's destination for partying was solidified again on Saint Patrick's Day when thousands of revelers were lured to the neighborhood from early in the morning to early in the next morning. Parking along the residential streets was difficult to come by and the party poured out of the bars and restaurants to the sidewalks. The rare combination of unseasonably warm weather and the holiday falling on a Saturday was credited for causing this year's Saint Patrick's Day to be a larger event than usual. The next morning after the party crowd went home, an inordinate amount of post-holiday trash littered the blocks of Mainstrasse.
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"The result of that day in Mainstrasse was less than desirable, and as a group we are committed to figuring out a way that it doesn't ever repeat," said Commissioner Steve Casper at Tuesday night's city commission meeting. The closing discussion at City Hall centered around the mess left behind and the seeming lack of preparedness by the businesses and by the City that led to the litter. Additionally, there were ten arrests including one that followed an alleged assault that left one man hospitalized.
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"We made recommendations (to the businesses) to hire off-duty police officers," said police chief Lee Russo. "We authorized officers to come in on overtime and we had eight other officers working in addition to these resources. Unfortunately when the bars began to close we had the mass exodus, there was a little chaos and we had some fighting."
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Commissioner Shawn Masters, who triggered conversation about the day-after condition of Mainstrasse on Sunday, reiterated his displeasure. "This is a quality of life issue," Masters said. "The fact that this happened this year is an embarrassment and someone needs to be held accountable. The excuses I got the next day were unacceptable. This commission needs to be committed to doing something and it's not just a slap on the wrist going forward. If we need to revoke 2:30AM liquor licenses we're going to do it. I'm not going to accept those excuses anymore."
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A resident of Mutter Gottes adjacent to Mainstrasse who is known to address parking concerns for her neighborhood at City Hall was back to lament the inconveniences the area's residents felt on Saint Patrick's Day. "My neighbors could not park the other night when they got home, the traffic was ridiculous," she said. "We have some rights as taxpayers, as residents and we should not have to be at the mercy of these bars and restaurants and the people that patronize them in an irresponsible manner."
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Staff from City Hall and the police department will be meeting with the Mainstrasse Village Association's executive director Kim Blank as well as owners of the neighborhood's bars and restaurants to work out better plans for future events. "We want to follow up to see what we can to prevent this from happening again," Chief Russo said.
Staff from City Hall and the police department will be meeting with the Mainstrasse Village Association's executive director Kim Blank as well as owners of the neighborhood's bars and restaurants to work out better plans for future events. "We want to follow up to see what we can to prevent this from happening again," Chief Russo said.
It should be noted that this was not a MSVA-sanctioned event, but rather a holiday that simply attracted crowds to Mainstrasse.
I thought the whole idea of Main Strasse was to get drunk. The residents should have residential parking during the drunk fests. It's one giant vomitorium and public urinal during the drunk fests. Very gross!
ReplyDeleteThose bars are directly responsible for poor crowd control. All who were injured should sue the bars - they have an excellent case for willful negligence. MainStrasse is a nice, mixed use neighborhood where neighbors know eachother and look out for one another. It is shameful that a few bad businesses can cause the perception that the village is a toilet or center for alcohol abuse.
ReplyDeleteI find it strange that the City and the voice of Covington aka Shawn Masters did not see this coming. Does the City not get the weather channel? The warm weather was predicted well in advance and the voice of Covington - aka Shawn Masters - should have known this was going to be an issue. A true leader would have forseen this as a possible problem and taken steps to prevent it. Instead the Voice of Covington woke up and decided to make this an issue after the fact. As one that had a Mardi Gras fiasco in 2000 - it should have been forseen that this would have happened. Its so good to know that the Voice of Covington picked up on this after the fact.
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