Council, bar owners argue about street dance trash
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RONAN — The city council hired Jessica Cole-Hodgkinson as city attorney in a July 22 meeting that saw little other action, but much discussion about responsibility for monitoring and cleaning up after the street dance held during Pioneer Days.
Each year Rod Smart, Lori Peterson, and Kandi Davis, purchase an open container permit for their establishments to host a street dance and pay for police protection of the event.
The trio asked the council members what area had to be cleaned up by 9 a.m. after the street dance.
“Which streets have to be clean?” Peterson said.
Mayor Kim Aipperspach said he believes the street dance hosts should be responsible for trash generated by the event, even if it is outside the perimeter of the street dance.
“I remember one year I brought some stuff that was on the school lawn and it was those ‘shot things’ that definitely came from the street dance,” Aipperspach said.
Peterson asked if police officers could stop people from taking open containers outside of the dance perimeter. Aipperspach said the police are not the clean-up crew.
“The responsibility of a police officer is to be there to keep the fights from happening,” Aipperspach said. “When the police officers are there with a presence the fights get diffused before they start. They also try to keep an eye on the underage people. They try to watch the booze coming in and out but they can’t be everywhere.”
Police Officer John Mitchell said the officers were necessary to keep violence down.
“Three years ago, we didn’t have any officers there. There were three major fights,” Mitchell said.
Peterson said she believes some of the trash is being generated by some of the nearby bars and clubs that don’t participate in the street dance, because some of the trash is glass, which street dance vendors don’t use.
Peterson said getting people off the street to begin the clean-up process so the streets are ready for the next day’s parade has been a problem.
“We were out there trying to clean the street, and people were out drinking and throwing things down in front of us,” Peterson said.
She said she asked the police officers on duty why they didn’t shut the dance down.
“He said, ‘We thought we’d give them a break and let them go until three.’ I came unglued. If I were to do that you’d have my a— in jail,” Peterson said.
Although Peterson said she videoed the streets surrounding the dance area clean last year, Public Works Director Dan Miller said local businesses and townspeople still encountered trash problems the next morning.
“I spent a lot of time picking up things that were clearly and specifically from the street dance,” Miller said.
Smart said the street dance organizers would try to have all the trash from the event cleaned up before this year’s parade.
“I’ll only pick up what came out of the bar,” Smart said. “If there’s a Dairy Queen laying there, it lays there.”
The council also agreed to collaborate more with the library to help clarify the funding process and continue to communicate with Jay Preston of the Ronan Telephone Company about the installation of a cooling system. Chris Adler told the board he had some complaints about fireworks and the council members discussed implementing regulations for next year’s season. Miller updated the council on upcoming improvements to the park’s splash pad.
