It’s not just Hoboken: Cities across country clamp down on St. Pat’s Parades

HOBOKEN AND BEYOND — Apparently, Hoboken isn’t the only city that is trying to rein in the party atmosphere that occurs on the day of the St. Pat’s Parade.
Recently, Mayor Dawn Zimmer announced that next year’s parade will be held on a Wednesday afternoon rather than a Saturday. But she’s not the only mayor trying to find a way to quell disturbances.
A Reuters story notes: “Scores of arrests and violence at parades in Albany, New York and Newport, Rhode Island are prompting police and city officials to rethink their approach as well. They said this year’s parade violence is the worst they have seen to date. Police in Newport, where a disorderly March 12 parade led to 95 arrests for everything from public drinking to weapons charges, figure they have the next 12 months to learn how to monitor social networking sites so they can anticipate crowds. ‘It’s the first time we heard of people coming to the parade because of Twitter,’ said Newport Police Lt. William Fitzgerald.
“Hoboken’s change to a weekday parade will mean fewer out-of-towners roaming parties where alcohol flows long before the parade begins, said Juan Melli, a mayoral spokesman.”