By Steven Cook
The Albany Daily Gazette
A year ago, Anton Pasquill watched a riot outside the window of his coffee shop at Quail Street and Hudson Avenue. The turmoil forced him to shut down his Hudson River Coffee House in the Pine Hills neighborhood.
This year Pasquill said he has seen the makings of a less-eventful St. Patrick’s Day weekend.
“I’ve seen changes. They’ve been gradual,” Pasquill said. “It’s difficult because it’s a heavily populated college area, so you’re not going to see an instantaneous change. But I have seen minor changes. I have seen better behavior overall as a trend and seen much heavier enforcement.”
Law enforcement, prosecutors and university officials descended on Pasquill’s shop Friday to get their message across: They expect it will be a quieter weekend, but if it’s not, behavior like last year’s “kegs and eggs” riot won’t be tolerated and they’ll be ready.
Last year, cars were vandalized and appliances flung from porches — responding police in riot gear were pelted with rocks and bottles. The disturbance flowed from a cluster of early-morning house parties on a block of Hudson Avenue populated by off-campus fraternities and sororities.
Hundreds spilled into the streets later in the morning, quickly becoming unruly. It happened hours before the city’s St. Patrick’s Day parade. Much of the scene was recorded on cellphone cameras and later disseminated on social networking websites such as YouTube and Facebook.
More than 40 people were arrested, including six on felony charges ranging from rioting to criminal mischief. University at Albany administrators condemned the behavior and swiftly announced they would cancel the university’s annual Fountain Day celebration. They then adjusted the 2011-12 academic calendar to schedule spring break this week, sending many students off campus.
Friday’s news conference was attended by many local officials, including Albany County District Attorney P. David Soares, Mayor Jerry Jennings and Police Chief Steven Krokoff. Soares said they wanted to make it “perfectly clear” for families and those wanting to attend this weekend’s events that law enforcement will be ready.
“We will not be tolerating any kind of behavior that threatens people, that threatens the festive environment,” Soares said.
Soares also highlighted the prosecutions that stemmed from last year’s riot, including jail sentences handed out as a result.
This year’s St. Patrick’s Day parade steps off at 2 p.m. from Quail Street and Central Avenue, heading east. The route merges with Washington Avenue, then turns at City Hall, taking State Street to Pearl Street.
Krokoff declined to say how many officers will be on duty today. He joked it might be easier to say who won’t be working.
But, he said, besides the officers on the streets, there will be more on standby, ready to respond to any incidents that emerge. He added that he doesn’t see incidents emerging, however.
“I do not envision anything like we saw last year,” the chief said. “I’m sure we’ll have a nice, pleasant, 65-degree day tomorrow.”
The chief also said he sees changes coming from the neighborhood itself. The neighborhood isn’t the same place it was a year ago, he said.
“The environment just doesn’t exist anymore that would be conducive to the type of behavior that you saw last year,” Krokoff said. “Just to be sure of that, we’ll have plenty of officers around to make sure that nobody tries to revert back to their old ways.”
Soares reiterated that last year’s events were spawned by a relatively small number of people.
“I think the message here is that, while we can’t provide any assurances of what will happen tomorrow, we can provide assurances that there will be more resources devoted to ensure that these events tomorrow, all of these events, are going to be about families and people having a good time.”
Copyright 2012 The Daily Gazette Co.