Hartford Leaders Warn Against Late Night, Weekend Crowds and Street Partying

 It’s not a new problem, but the nice weather has it happening again.

Cars taking over and people partying in the Wethersfield and Franklin Avenues areas of Hartford on overnight hours during the weekends.

Neighbors and city leaders are concerned it could happen again this weekend and want to work on ways to make it stop.

“They text me at 11 o’clock. They call me at 1 a.m. They send me videos of all the disturbing things,” said Hartford city council president Maly Rosado, who has heard lots of complaints from constituents.

Rosado held a virtual meeting with police, community leaders, some locals and business owners Friday afternoon about the persistent problem on weekend nights.

“If you have somebody who has a heart attack. A fire. our public safety trucks can’t even get there,” she said.

She wants the community to come together to help find ways to make the problem stop. So far the council has changed a food truck ordinance with the hope that that may make an impact too.

“The residents are tired and our police department is exhausted. They’re working around the clock.”

Hartford Police and the Mayor Luke Bronin say many attendees aren’t from Hartford.

“We’re going to make it as inconvenient and difficult as possible to do that kind of stuff in our city,” said Bronin.

“One of the strategies we use is shutting off some of the ramps. State Police help with that,” said Chief Jason Thody, who says the problem only got worse with the pandemic and it’s heating up again.

The department says they have increased officer presence in the area. State Police have helped block off exits and he says the department of motor vehicles is dishing out vehicle violations too.

“We definitely have an increased presence in and around that Wethersfield Avenue, Franklin Avenue corridor to make sure that the neighborhoods are livable, to make sure people can sleep at night, to make sure people can go to church in the morning. Those are all resident concerns that we’ve had over the years,” said Thody.

 “We’re going to make it as inconvenient and difficult as possible to do that kind of stuff in our city,” said Bronin.

NBC Connecticut spoke to some residents who feel this partying is a problem.

Others say it’s better than participating in something more dangerous, like deadly shootings we’ve seen in recent days.

 “It’s a lot of young people. Some people like maybe in their 40s you know. It’s just so dangerous. I don’t think they should be having parties outside. Who am I to judge, but it’s just dangerous,” said Martha Cupe who lives in the area.