Waterloo street parties a 'rite of passage' for students and that's going to be hard to change: Report

Street parties on Waterloo's Ezra Avenue are viewed as a rite of passage or tradition for many students, says a new report set to go before city councillors Monday.

That "will make it more difficult to shift the culture surrounding those events," the report says.

Waterloo has seen street parties grow in recent years. It started with St. Patrick's Day parties topping 10,000 students filling Ezra Avenue and surrounding streets. It now also includes homecoming weekend: 14,000 people gathered on the residential street in 2018.

Then, last Monday around 10 p.m, police were called to a party in the area of Ezra Avenue and Clayfield Avenue where furniture was set on fire. The party is currently under investigation by the Waterloo Regional Police Service.

Waterloo Coun. Tenille Bonoguore, whose ward includes Ezra Avenue, heard about the party on Tuesday.

"My heart sank, really, to realize this is how we were starting the school year," she said.

She says she's talked with residents both in the area and across the city about these kinds of parties over the past week.

"They're very concerned just at what's becoming a growing problem," Bonoguore said.

"I don't think anyone's expecting it to happen all the time. No one's said that, but I think, yes, there is a concern that this is becoming the new norm and that having these massive parties on public land, or just massive parties in general, is just going to keep snowballing."

'Crowd densities are at critical levels'

The staff report says large, unsanctioned street parties pose significant safety risks to the community, and divert resources from other community needs, including emergency response.

"Crowd densities are at critical levels, placing risks on the attendees and emergency service providers," the report says.

The cost to control these events has also grown to unsustainable levels in the past few years, the report said. In 2018, for example, St. Patrick's Day and Ezra Street homecoming parties generated a combined $1 million in police, paramedic and city costs.

There's also no way to recover these costs, so the city says that means taxpayers throughout the region are footing the bill. 

The report also highlighted concerns about public safety, because service providers are diverting their resources to these events and away from the rest of the community. 

Staff suggested that response times for the rest of the community could be affected if changes are not implemented, and these events continue to grow. 

The report is the result of a task force convened by Waterloo Mayor Dave Jaworksy in 2018, to figure out what kind of action can be taken to mitigate the risks and growth of unsanctioned public gatherings.

The city also conducted an online survey in March, in which eight per cent of respondents from the community said the gatherings should either be commercialized or sanctioned.

The findings of the report will inform what final action the city decides to take with respect to the parties. 

Already though, some initiatives are being piloted for Wilfrid Laurier University's homecoming, which is on Sept. 28, to see how they could work, the report said.

The task force will continue its work until a final proposal is made to council. That's expected to happen in early 2020 with the plan to be implemented over one to three years.