St Patrick's Day Street Party Waterloo, Ontario

St Patrick's Day Waterloo

 The St. Patrick’s Day street party in Waterloo is about more than the cost of policing. In recent years, the Waterloo Regional Police Service has spent roughly $300,000 or more annually managing the gathering. That is a significant public expense, but the bigger issue is what we ask our community and emergency services to handle year after year.

Large, unsanctioned gatherings create serious public-safety challenges, including overcrowding, impaired behaviour, blocked streets, property damage, emergency-access problems and the deployment of large numbers of police officers and other emergency personnel. Residents and businesses in surrounding neighbourhoods also face noise, disruption, garbage, and property damage.

Students should be able to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, and Waterloo should remain a welcoming university community. But that celebration cannot come at the expense of neighbourhood safety and quality of life, and taxpayers should not be expected to absorb hundreds of thousands of dollars in costs year after year.

There are essentially two approaches: ban the gathering outright, or work toward a structured compromise.

A ban may be appropriate if reasonable efforts at cooperation fail and public safety cannot otherwise be protected. But a ban should not be the starting point. If thousands of students are determined to celebrate, simply prohibiting the traditional gathering may push celebrations into smaller, less organized and potentially more difficult-to-manage parties throughout the community. In that situation, police may have to deal with multiple dispersed gatherings rather than one event that can be planned for and managed.

That is why I believe the first step should be a serious attempt at cooperation between the universities, students, the City, police, emergency services and residents.

If a compromise can be reached, it should include clear rules, registration and accountability. One possible approach would be for participating students to register and receive a wristband or other form of identification. The universities could establish appropriate consequences for students who participate outside the agreed system or violate the rules. The universities and participating students should also contribute substantially toward the extraordinary costs created by the event.

If cooperation fails, however, the City and universities cannot simply accept the status quo. Stronger measures, including a ban or significant restrictions, would then have to be considered to protect public safety and the surrounding community.

The objective should be neither “let the party happen at any cost” nor “ban it and hope the problem disappears.” The objective should be to find a practical solution that allows students to celebrate responsibly while protecting residents, emergency services and taxpayers.

Students, universities, the City and the wider community all have responsibilities. Waterloo can support student traditions while insisting on safety, accountability, responsible behaviour and a fairer sharing of the costs.