Bar Owners and City Prep For St. Pat's

The actual holiday is still more than a month away, but in Hoboken  Hoboken's St. Patrick's Day parade is scheduled for March 5. 

While many Hoboken residents have already started plotting how to leave town that day, planning for the parade is underway. 

On Wednesday afternoon, Mayor Dawn Zimmer met with roughly 50 bar owners in the basement of City Hall. Also present were Police Chief Anthony Falco, Fire Chief Richard Blohm and Public Safety Director Angel Alicea. 

The entire police corps will be on duty that day, Falco said. Even those cops who are being honored in the parade—Lt. Kevin Houghton is Irish Police Officer of the Year and Capt. Anthony Romano is Honorary Irishman of the Year—will take off their sashes and get back to work after parading on Washington Street.

The mayor also addressed during Wednesday afternoon's meeting. One of the noise problems plaguing local residents are the large number of people coming out of bars around 1 a.m. 

Zimmer said that special officers would have to be in charge to make sure that the new noise ordinance is enforced. "We really need additional staffing for that," Zimmer said. 

As far as the parade is concerned, the bars will open at 9 a.m., just like last year. In previous years, bars opened at 11 a.m. Last year, the first lines to get into bars  

Although many agree that last year's parade day was much more orderly than in previous years, "this year we're going to do better," Falco said. 

The police department is issuing special bar cards for that day, Falco said. 

Blohm warned the bar owners on Wednesday afternoon to make sure that no establishment exceeds the maximum capacity. "Overcrowding is out there," Blohm said. He added that groups of firemen will be patrolling the streets to crack down on house parties with overcrowding. 

Last year, Blohm said, only one bar was caught overcrowding. 

"You don't want us in your establishment," Blohm said. "We're going to take this enforcement very seriously."