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Mar 17, 2008 6:24 pm US/Central
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Dallas Leader Wants St. Patty's Parade Changes
DALLAS (CBS 11 News) ―
In Dallas, St. Patrick's Day celebrations on Saturday attracted its biggest-ever crowd of revelers to lower Greenville Avenue, but at least one city leader wants some big changes.
An estimated 60,000 people came out for Saturday's St. Patrick's Day parade. Reveler Leigh Gable told CBS 11, "It was a very energetic, awesome environment, with a lot of people having a fun time."
What was a good time for Gable is causing some frustration for residents and Dallas City Councilmember Angela Hunt. Hunt says this year crowds, towing and trash got out of hand. "After the parade there were real problems on the street," the councilwoman explained. "There were a ton of people who were drunk, who were hanging out on the street, who were leaving a ton of trash along our Dallas streets. And that's just not acceptable."
The Greenville Avenue Area Business Association helped put on the parade and was in charge of picking up the litter afterwards. Association members agree with Hunt on some points, but in their defense say cleanup isn't instantaneous. "They were writing tickets to business owners, up and down this street, for trash at 4:30 in the afternoon," said board member Tommy Donahue. "That's the middle of the event."
Greenville area business owners say that trash was picked up by 8pm Saturday night. The G.A.A.B.A. pays for extra police patrols, barricades and trash pickup for the parade and president Jorge Levy says maybe the city needs to step up and help more.
Some local residents also wanted additional help with towing enforcement.
This year six tow trucks were hauling away cars, but not fast enough for some. "I had four cars parked down here on the right hand side of the street, which is a no parking zone, that were never towed," said Belmont Neighborhood Association Member Avi Alderman. "It took three hours to get them tickets."
Dallas police say they had minor incidents including public drunkenness and disorderly conduct, and that the increased arrests and tows were because of the additional forces patrolling the area. In the 'party zone' there were 46 arrests for public intoxication, 44 car towed and 13 DWI arrests.
"We have to evaluate really what happened here. We have to work with the police, work with code enforcement, and work with the neighborhoods," Hunt said. "How do we do it next year, if we do it? How do we go forward?"
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