Westfield Police are currently providing security in Hoboken today for that city's Lepre-Con festival. Mayor Skibitsky approved the expenditures associated with Westfield Police transporting equipment to Hoboken. Westfield's portable message board sat in Hoboken all week, advertising today's event.See related story Posted on NJ.com
HOBOKEN--It's 9:30 a.m., and a growing crowd outside Teak on the Hudson is ready to start drinking.
The bar is the first to open for the St. Patrick's Day Bar Crawl, an annual event in Hoboken now in its fourth year that is unofficially known as "Lepre-Con." More than 5300 people have purchased passes to the event, which includes 25 bars in the Mile Square City, said Eddie Miller, chief executive officer of Wesell.com, the parent company of the event's organizer, HobokenStPatricksDay.com. He said the bar crawl is expected to draw at least 800 people outside of the metro area. A majority of the bars will open their doors at 11 a.m.
Lepre-Con launched in 2012 in response to the cancellation of the St. Patrick's Day parade, an event that became well known for its rowdiness. Event organizers say they shed the "Lepre-Con" monicker a few years ago, due to the negative connotation of the name.
Hoboken police Chief Kenneth Ferrante told NJ Advance Media that the bar crawl has proven increasingly less troublesome in recent years but that the day is still one of the department's busiest. All 141 police officers will be working on Saturday for a seven hour stretch and will be joined by the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office's Rapid Deployment Force, as well as police from NJ Transit, Port Authority, Stevens Institute of Technology and Westfield, he said.
The department will have a zero tolerance policy when it comes to public urination and unruly house parties, he said. Several festively green porta-potties are at the ready outside several participating bars.
When asked about the police response to the bar crawl, Miller said that his company has worked with the police department to ensure that Saturday's event is a safe one. He acknowledged that some misbehavior could probably be expected, but said that the city has done a good job addressing it.
"Of course there is going to be some debauchery. It's St. Patrick's Day," Miller said. "Every year the event is held, less and less citations are issued."
Are those pictures of WPD vehicles in Hoboken on Saturday? If so, that is pretty disgraceful.
ReplyDeleteWhy is Westfield equipment and manpower there? Is this another oppurtunity of a lifetime like Wayman has stated before? The bigger picture here is Wayman is well aware that all of this equipment is available free of charge thru the County, as is the Union County Emergency Response Team but the taxpayers are burden with huge expenses that could be avoided, Wayman disbanded the DARE program due to no funds and shortness of manpower prior to these FOOLISH purchases. The DARE program touched every child in the Westfield School System , Waymans decisions continue to destroy the integrity of the Community. The short answer is DARE didn't put anything in Waymans pocket
ReplyDeleteThe D.A.R.E. Program was the recipient of donated money used to purchase a vehicle for the program. Several thousand dollars more were donated to customize the vehicle for the DARE program. Wayman made the vehicle his own personal transportation when he and Parizeau cancelled the police department's DARE program which was recognized by Union County and the State of NJ for being successful.
ReplyDeleteSo Wayman has been able to "line his pocket" with a customized gas guzzling SUV instead of a fleet vehicle such as a Ford Crown Vic or other sedan.
So so sad, Due to Waymans ignorance and greed we can come up with an accurate number of juveniles that were educated AND exercised good decision making in the area of illegal drugs because of DARE the past four years..... Zero
ReplyDeleteWell at least Wayman had a nice vehicle for his Bar and Women adventures and of course his autograph shows, who paid the 7900.00 bill for the custom paint and gull wing doors that Moore got installed in the vehicle and then the bill to have it all removed when Wayman had to have his second Department issued car.
Are these recent photos?
ReplyDeleteYes.
DeleteThere was no snow on the ground last year when the WPD was in Hoboken for Lepre-con festivities at the expense of the Westfield taxpayer.
The tinted windows of Wayman's police "love machine" cloak his anonymity when driving his new secretary to and from Robin's retirement party. Why didn't the Wayman bring his spouse to the dinner? Hmmm.
ReplyDeleteWhere are the military vehicles you mentioned in a previous article?
ReplyDeleteOne is at the DPW. Another was out and about during the last snow storm.
ReplyDelete