Dear Editor:
This year’s Hoboken St. Patrick’s Day Parade and related festivities were a world away from the nightmare scenario of property damage and over-the-top obnoxiousness that ensued last year, and our city’s administration and public-safety personnel deserve thanks and congratulations for a potentially disastrous event kept very much under control.
I wish to thank Mayor Zimmer and Chief Falco, along with the rest of the Police Department, as well as public-safety personnel who came in from surrounding municipalities to help out. The administration and police put together what was clearly a very well-planned and -executed strategy for maintaining a highly visible presence and a quick and decisive series of responses to problems as they cropped up. Kudos to Mayor Zimmer, Public Safety Director Alicea, members of the City Council and many other city officials who put a ton of work into making sure this year’s parade could take place in a way that allowed a good time to be had by all, while preventing most of the problems that caused last year’s event to leave so many of us with a bad taste in our mouths. I also applaud the Mayor’s communications team for an excellent job keeping the public apprised throughout, and wish to personally thank police Capt. Anthony Romano and other officers for his help nipping a situation in my neighborhood in the bud before it got out of control. Congratulations to all, and great work!
Finally, many thanks to the Hoboken St. Patrick’s Parade Committee for putting together a great parade that was loads of fun, and proving that under a well-orchestrated public-safety plan, the parade truly is a great Hoboken tradition of which we can all be very proud.
Sincerely,
Jake Stuiver