West Phila. community also gearing up for Fling

Neighboring residents say Spring Fling weekend is normally a trying time due to loud, late-night parties. For many area residents and bar owners, the prospect of Spring Fling isn't as exciting as it might be to students gearing up for this weekend's activities. The annual event is characteristically marked by rowdy, drunken hordes of students migrating from party to party on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. Due to strict liquor controls in fraternities, much of the partying has been pushed off campus. And while Fling means different things for local bar owners and community members, they both agree it's far from the average weekend on campus. For those permanent residents of University City who live next door to houses packed with undergraduates, Spring Fling can mean a much louder, messier weekend. According to Joe Lasprogata, a homeowner on the 4100 block of Pine Street, littering, screaming, urination, vandalism and even fire have all been part of this weekend in the past. "One of the favorite stunts is for men to urinate on the sidewalks, which has now been emulated by the young ladies," he said. Today, Lasprogata added, he saw six kegs of beer delivered to one house. And when the students get drunk, they tend to start screaming until 2 or 3 a.m., he said. Although Lasprogata says he has appealed to the University for help, no one has responded. "No one will come out here at 2 o'clock in the morning to witness it," he said. "If they don't believe what I say, then come spend the night with me." When Pine Street resident Mary Goldman, Lasprogata's neighbor, learned that this weekend was Spring Fling, her immediate response was "Oh my. And I'm not going to be away." Goldman claimed that one of the biggest problems for neighbors about Spring Fling was that students tend to party late -- long after the rest of the world has gone to bed. "When they don't start Fling until midnight, it gets to be problematic," Goldman said. "It's when the music is put outside and played until 5 o'clock in the morning that people get a little distressed. And that's an understatement." Closer to campus, bar owners are making preparations for this weekend. Although the owners of many campus bars say there's not a dramatic increase or decrease in customers, they do notice a difference. Smokey Joe's owner Paul Ryan said he actually gets less business during Spring Fling, and the customers he does get are more likely to be students from other schools who have come to party at Penn. "It's not like a normal weekend because there's so much else to do," Ryan said. "We're a little slower, but the more people you can draw down to the campus to see how nice it is, the better." Meanwhile, the owners of both Cavanaugh's and The Blarney Stone said they will be stepping up security because of Spring Fling weekend. Blarney Stone owner Rich Roller said he expects an increase in business, but that it will be offset by the extra measures the bar will take to ensure safety -- including more employees and more bouncers. "We like to err on the side of caution," Roller explained. "Usually, when you have more people standing around with staff shirts on, it's a deterrent." Bill Pawlicvek, owner of Cav's, also remarked that he expects slightly more business in the next couple of days because of fewer parties on campus -- and that he intends to take extra caution for Spring Fling. "Everybody's on their toes because of the [Liquor Control Enforcement board]," Pawlicvek said. "You might not give someone the benefit of the doubt." He also added that the presence of off-campus parties draws a lot of students away from the bars. "If they're all at a party on Spring Fling weekend, then they don't have to worry about minor friends not being able to drink," Pawlicvek said.

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