St. Patrick's celebrations

[danbrotherston]

Clearly you do not understand how our society works. It works in large part by providing certain services to everybody, without judging whether they are worthy to receive those services. This isn’t perfect, but it’s better than the alternative.


Thanks, I see where you’re coming from on this. I can’t say if Saturday or Sunday is the “best” day for a party, but I definitely agree that weekends are likely to see larger attendance. Although one Councillor made a rather silly statement, suggesting that this year was the first time the party occurred on a Saturday, when in fact March 17, 2012 was also a Saturday. In other words, there are probably current students who have celebrated St. Patrick’s day on Ezra Avenue twice on a Saturday.

The last time it was on a Saturday (2012) it wasn't nearly as big. It's been growing over the years, but it's only been the past 5 celebrations (2014) that they've been starting to get out of control, size wise.

As for our services, this still is an illegal party that puts the ENTIRE region at risk, for a rather small group of revellers. As I mentioned before, this is not a good situation and anyone living in the region shouldn't have to worry about that risk, if they have a need for EMS or police services (though the police services are being taken care of).  As it stands, only a small amount had to be hospitalized, but most could have been treated if the city of Waterloo and the universities set up something nearby.

Ideally, the universities and the city of Waterloo could provide for those services on their own, and they should.  They could hire EMS staff as well as busses to provide the necessary resources. It appears that when it comes to this though, that there is no desire with the city of Waterloo or the universities to be part of the solution, and no desire to put any money into this.

There are solution out there, and it's not rocket science. Make it legal and inclusive. Or accept it as a money loser but it's on the city of Waterloo and universities that bear the costs, and their responsibility to provide the needed services.

This is not an "illegal" party.

Everyone says this, but it means nothing.  There are illegal acts, yes, and those people are punished.  But it is not illegal to congregate on public property, nor is it illegal to invite people onto your own property for a party.  Calling this an "illegal party" is the same as arguing a traffic jam is an illegal party, a group of people, some (probably more) who are breaking the law, all in one place blocking a road.

As for EMS, why do you call out City of Waterloo?  They're not responsible for EMS services, why are you calling them out in this case.  The city and region are hardly distinct in this case.  I think if you lived in the CoW, you wouldn't be saying this.

I'm all for solving the problems related to this event, but this rhetoric is not solving anything.