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| scene from Leprecon 2012 |
*jackass statistic not-scientific; based on police incidents report for March 3, 2018
THE LESSONS OF LEPRECON 2018
Some thoughts on 2018's sea change in the city's management of the "CONS," courtesy of the Bhalla administration.
THE DETERRENT EFFECT
Historically, problems arising from Hoboken's internet-organized "CON" bar crawls are the result of:
(1) several (not all) taverns' lack of accountability ,
(2) soft enforcement on tavern sheets,
(3) an outnumbered HPD and,
(4) Hoboken's reputation as Debauchery Central, where anything goes- pee where you want, hit a cop- our reputation made us a magnet for suburban troublemakers
By implementing accountability to the serial offenders with hard enforcement, and supplementing Hoboken's police force (North Bergen, Union City, Secaucus, NJ Transit police, state ABC detectives), and with a massive law enforcement street presence, Mayor Bhalla may have found the key to defusing the harmful effects of the "CONs" on Hoboken.
Here's why.
Accountability and Enforcement will nibble at the edges of our city's reputation as Debauchery Central. Oh, it will. A text I got yesterday:
"Everyone I know who went there said it was dead."
"DEAD!"
Fantastic. "Dead" is great news! Please, spread that around. Hoboken "CON" bar crawls are "dead!"
Orderly folks who can have fun within a framework of law and order will still attend. But, the troublemakers who feed off debauchery, who think they can piss on our streets with impunity, may not waste their time at the next "dead" event.
Yo, adult frat boys & girls! You will not be missed! Keep your pee and vomit in your respective suburban communities!
Maybe these events will just wither and blow away. If not, they will change in a way that won't have negative impact 50,000+ Hoboken residents. There is also Assemblywoman Annette Chapparo's bill, A-3720- to allow NJ municipalities to regulate these private mass-bar-crawls events.
Assemblywoman Chaparro: can you give your bill a push?
Who knows what the future holds. But, these "CONS" have been a quality-of-life issue for many residents- including me. And so, GA thinks that the Bhalla administration in tandem with HPD Chief Ferrante and his police force is off to a great start. Because when Hoboken changes it's reputation from Debauchery Central, with accountability and enforcement, our residents, taxpayers, tavern owners and visitors to Hoboken all benefit.
That's what I think.
We are headed in a positive direction, people. Let's keep it going!
kudos to the hoboken police, area police forces who helped out, the vast (vast) majority of bar owners who operate in a responsible manner, ABC, the task force and, of course, mayor bhalla. every resident i know is quite happy about the turn of events, let's keep it up.
ReplyDeleteOver in twitter (you asked?) the only city council person who sent congrats to the mayor was (wait for it), Mr. Russo. A jolly green giant blogger just sent kind words to the Police Chief, but no-one else. Yup....
ReplyDeletei wonder if the leprecon organizers got any pushback from participants who signed up in advance and then came to find many of their favorite rowdy bars closed once they got to hoboken. or if word of bar closings got out enough ahead of time and fewer people signed up.
ReplyDeletei imagined bars that were open would be overwhelmed, since there were fewer venues participating, but i didn't hear reports of that.