We All Have Our Horror Stories - 220
Hal Wastes His Wages!
February 13, 2007
 

We all have our horror stories. The calamity begins at an outrageously early hour, ebbing and flowing throughout the day and into the evening. It’s all so disruptive and intrusive—the car horns, the sirens, the screaming, the yelling. There’s no going outside, there’s nowhere to park, and traffic is at a standstill. At the end of the day the streets are littered, and it seems just as the din has finally subsided we’re looking at doing it all over again. Yeah, Garden Street on a school day sure is brutal.

We all have our horror stories. It seems like an endless season, invariably getting worse before it gets better. As soon as you step off the PATH the raucous belligerence is right in your face. Streets are closed off, loud floats choke the thoroughfares, and the crowds on Washington Street make pedestrian travel impossible—to the point where a police presence is required. At the end of the day the streets are littered, and as the surly revelers make their way through the streets towards home, it seems each year is more outrageous than the last. Yeah, election season in Hoboken sure is brutal.

Indisputably, all the same can be said about the upcoming Hoboken St. Patrick’s Day Parade. This year the event will take place Saturday, March 3. Please take note—that’s one day, just ONE DAY. It’s not every Monday through Friday from September to June, nor is it seemingly two months every two years. It’s ONE DAY.

Hell, if people couldn’t complain about stuff then hacks like me would be out of a job. But fact is you live in a city, so deal with it.

“We all have our horror stories,” is a rather melodramatic quote from a Hoboken councilperson regarding a “pub-crawl” back in 2002. And while many are quick to cite greed of bars, people need to recognize the restaurants, the pizzerias, the fast food joints, the groceries, the newsstands, the taxis, and numerous other retailers also reap serious benefits from events like Hoboken St. Patrick’s Day. Despite the short-term, albeit pounding headaches, that ONE DAY is good for Hoboken when it’s all said and done.

In a town where many unique small businesses have been supplanted by chain stores and banks, it’s important to provide an opportunity for a few of the remaining businesses to make a little money. Sure, the bars make out the most on a day like that, but why shouldn’t they? Like it or not, bars have done a lot to contribute to the growth of the City of Hoboken.

And it is a city. If you want quiet suburbia, then move there. I think about it all the time—especially 3:00 p.m. on a school day when I walk past Garden Street, or 10:00 a.m. on a Saturday when some city council candidate presses my buzzer. Yeah, we all have our horror stories, but that’s the price we pay to live in a city we love. Well, that and outrageous rents/mortgages/taxes/parking tickets/towing charges…

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