East Neighborhood sees increased party traffic over Halloween weekend
Harry Lewis was driving to church at 7 a.m. and still seeing students leave Halloween parties.
Residents of the East neighborhood reported more Halloween weekend traffic this year than last year and said it was worse than usual, but the Department of Public Safety said the weekend went as expected.
‘It reminded me of MayFest, the amount of people that were out,’ said Lewis, treasurer of the Southeast University Neighborhood Association, who drove down Euclid Avenue around 11:30 p.m. Saturday.
Lewis, who lives on the 900 block of Lancaster Avenue with his wife, said he could not recall last year’s Halloween weekend but would definitely remember this year’s. As he was driving on Euclid, he noticed large groups walking in every direction and had to be careful of students jaywalking, he said. Lewis said he did not notice increased police patrols during the weekend but did see an ambulance.
Department of Public Safety Asst. Chief Mike Rathbun said the weekend was what DPS expected it to be — lots of people out in costumes, and parties occurring on most of the East neighborhood streets. He said this Halloween weekend was similar to last year’s.
‘It was fairly typical, we had some intoxicated students, some injuries,’ he said.
One student was injured from falling off a roof in the East neighborhood, and DPS and Syracuse police officers broke up a few fights, he said. DPS did not refer any students for wearing offensive or bias-related costumes, he said.
DPS had extra patrols and officers, including Rathbun, out on the streets.
‘Pretty much everywhere I went, I saw a marked police unit,’ Rathbun said.
Syracuse police also had increased patrols in the neighborhood. Syracuse police issued 16 open container citations Friday through Sunday, all on Euclid and Lancaster avenues, according to Syracuse police reports. Police issued only one nuisance party citation at 756 Euclid Ave., according to the reports.
Rufino Ramos lives with his wife and three children, ages 1, 2 and 16, on the 700 block of Lancaster Avenue. Ramos said he called police complaining about noise last weekend and that this past weekend was similar in noise and activity to other weekends this semester.
During a weekend in the beginning of October, one of the family’s outdoor Halloween decorations was taken. He said his children do not go out trick-or-treating in the East neighborhood and would not this year, either.
Mary Beth Williams, a resident of the 700 block of Sumner Avenue, said she lives on the ‘fringe’ of the party activity and could hear the parties going on this weekend. The area she lives in did not see much traffic, but she knows of residents living in the Redfield Place area who frequently complain about weekend parties, she said.
On Sunday morning, Williams said she could see the trash from the Saturday night parties along Euclid Avenue.
‘Euclid is pretty disgusting,’ Williams said. ‘But it’s always.’
Published on October 31, 2010 at 12:00 pm
