It's true that DiCicco worked for nearly a year with community groups, bar owners and city agencies to make sure the Mardis Gras festival in his district went off in relative peace and quiet. At yesterday's City Council meeting, he rose to condemn those who blamed the police for the rioting. And then he did some finger-pointing of his own, with much of it directed across the river. Talk about projecting a welcoming image of our town. Such intemperate comments suggest that outlying communities deliberately shipped the kids here to create chaos or that they came intent on destruction.
Drunken kids get out of control and that's what happened.
The issue is why and what can be done to prevent it from happening again, not whether the rioters share our zip code. A big city ought to be able to welcome everyone who's willing to behave - and control those who can't. We can't boast about the excitement and fun a city has to offer and then bemoan that kids come here to enjoy it. Someone is to blame. Fortunately, Mayor Street reacted with the same calming rationality he did when the Thomas Jones beating threatened to polarize the city last summer.