State Patty’s Day 2011 may well have been most-attended, busiest iteration of the annual drinking holiday since its inception in 2007.
But the marked uptick in citations, arrests and other police-logged incidents wasn’t solely a result of the attendance levels, State College police Chief Tom King said.
He said it also stemmed from a deliberate, organized effort to increase police staffing on State Patty’s Day weekend, held Feb. 25 to Feb. 27.
King said the borough police department alone grew its staffing about 25 percent over State Patty’s Day 2010 levels. Borough police saw 480 calls for service on State Patty’s Day weekend this year, up from 365 the prior year.
Many of the calls were initiated by police, King said.
‘We pretty much, in 2011, have finally gotten to the point where, absent some real, real good reason — like you’re ill, getting married or have a death in the family — everyone (officer) is going to work,’ he said. ‘We put on everyone who was available this State Patty’s Day.’
King’s remarks, made to StateCollege.com in an interview, came shortly after the borough last week released its 2011 State Patty’s Day analysis. The 26-page report delineates in detail the community impacts left by the unsanctioned drinking holiday, including the financial impact on the borough government.
The police department footed $18,700 in added overtime expenses for the weekend, the report shows. Meanwhile, the borough public-works department saw nearly $15,500 in extra costs, thanks to needs ranging from garbage pick-up to street sweeping.
The parking department fared better, collecting top-line revenue of $82,497 for the weekend — up from $9,947 on a typical weekend. Taking that significant revenue into account, rough calculations suggest that the borough overall netted about $15,000 for the weekend.
But because of the way revenue streams in the borough government are directed, the parking revenue doesn’t exactly shake out as a direct gain for other departments, borough leaders emphasized.
‘I can’t transfer money from the parking fund back into the general fund for expenditures that weren’t parking-related,’ borough Parking Manager Charles DeBow said.
And further, King said, the State Patty’s Day ‘impact goes so far beyond the expense to the borough,’ affecting people’s health, Mount Nittany Medical Center, downtown businesses and the town’s overall reputation, as well.
‘Really, no amount of money is worth that kind of result,’ King said. ‘ … It’s not even a close call that the negative impacts of this event far outweigh any entity that might make a few dollars.’
Along similar lines, DeBow said the borough parking department’s primary goal on State Patty’s Day weekend was not, in fact, to grow revenue.
Rather, he said, the operational adjustments made by the department — such as adding enforcement staff and upping garage-parking rates for some longer-term customers — were meant largely to help manage the impacts of State Patty’s Day.
The added enforcement was designed to cut down on a heavy volume of illegally parked cars, DeBow said. And the higher prices for some longer-term garage customers, he said, were aimed primarily at freeing up garage space for non-State Patty’s Day visitors.
The borough also blocked off 100 spaces in the Beaver Avenue garage for part of State Patty’s Day weekend. Those spots were opened later in the weekend, an attempt to improve accessibility for downtown visitors who weren’t there just to drink.
DeBow said the effectiveness of the overall parking strategy won’t be fully clear until State Patty’s Day 2012, when borough representatives will gauge how visitors’ downtown parking habits change — or don’t.
But ‘if our main objective was just to generate revenue — there are a lot of other things we could have done,’ DeBow said. ‘ … Hopefully, with the enforcement level we had this year,’ next year’s behavior will change. ‘That’s the ultimate goal.’
Specifically, he said, he would like to see a drop-off in the number of vehicles that park all weekend long in the borough garages and monopolize the system. ‘The only way to manage parking is by pricing it,’ DeBow said.
Started by Penn State students, State Patty’s Day emerged initially as an alternative drinking holiday in a year when St. Patrick’s Day fell during the university’s spring break.
It has grown over the past five years, propelled by social media, word of mouth and media reports. Untold thousands of people, including many from outside Pennsylvania, now flock to State College for the unofficial holiday.
‘We’re every bit as concerned as the borough is,’ university President Graham Spanier told StateCollege.com, adding that Penn State has worked with State College in trying to subdue State Patty’s Day.
‘I would just like to get rid of the whole thing,’ he said. ‘I just have no use for it at all.’
At the same time, Spanier said, he thought ‘it was great’ that some liquor-licensed establishments in downtown State College closed entirely for State Patty’s Day this year. ‘That was a step forward,’ he said.
‘It’s very hard in this era of social networking and blogs and websites — you know, people get everybody else ginned up over it,’ Spanier said. ‘It’s very hard to slow it down. These things seem to develop a life of their own.’
King also applauded downtown bars and restaurants for their approach to State Patty’s Day 2011, thanking those that closed and those that avoided offering drink specials. He thinks ‘it’s going to take those kinds of (self-imposed restraints) by the bars next year and maybe the following year’ to help quell State Patty’s Day trends, he said.
‘My own personal opinion is that if every bar in State College shut down for that Saturday, people would not have fun at all at this event, would not find it interesting and would not dare travel any distances to come to something like this,’ King said.
He said the borough yet hasn’t started any formal conversations with local bars about State Patty’s Day 2012.
But on the borough side, he added, he expects a continuation of a strong police presence and community outreach efforts.
‘I think traditional policing will continue as in the past,’ King said.
Earlier coverage
