Councilman Occhipinti Wants the Parade Back

Councilman Tim Occhipinti wants the St. Patrick's Day Parade back.

In a press release — which is uncommon for Occhipinti who usually doesn't send out announcements through a spokesman — the Fourth Ward councilman calls upon the mayor to bring back the event.

Occhipinti blamed Mayor Dawn Zimmer for the end of the tradition.

"For the second year in a row, the historic event was cancelled after Mayor Zimmer tried forcing the parade committee to move the event to a Wednesday evening," Occhipinti said. "The various bands, piper groups and organizations that make the parade such a great event would not be able to participate on a weeknight."

Zimmer and the parade committee were unable to come to an agreement about when to hold a parade last year as well. After two rapes were reported on parade day in 2011, Zimmer proposed moving the event to a weekday.

Multiple sources have said that Occhipinti, who is currently serving his first term as Fourth Ward councilman, has his eye on the mayoral race in November. But when asked recently, Occhipinti didn't deny it, but rather said "no comment."

While the parade is off, a pub crawl is still being organized and thousands of visitors are expected to come to Hoboken Saturday.

The city will have to pay extra overtime for police officers and fire fighters on Saturday. And since visitors are still expected, Occhipinti argued, why not hold the parade anyway?

In the wake of Sandy, Occhipinti said, "this year, we should be marching to show that we are Hoboken Strong."