Marvin Sosna brought up an interesting point with his commentary on the St. Patrick’s Day party in Dublin.
Now that the holiday has passed and the damage has been counted, we can compare it the damage of Mardi Gras ’04: 150,000 tourists poured into Dublin on March 17. Police arrested 252 people. In 2004, 4,000 people visited San Luis for Mardi Gras. Police arrested 195 people. So, in Dublin, .16 percent of all tourists turned so rowdy they had to be arrested. In SLO, 4.8 percent of all tourists were arrested. Both events were alcohol-fueled, parade-watching, enormous parties. In one case, the government supported the idea of bringing people in to spend money. In the other case, the government fought against it. Both had to spend extra funds on more police, but I think we can all figure out which city benefited more from their planning.
Maggie Mello
San Luis Obispo
This article appears in Mar 24-31, 2005.