Bring it on.
With upward of 170,000 Ravens fans and New Year?s Eve revelers expected in downtown Baltimore Sunday night, Bob Siko is bracing for the worst. Or the best.
“The game will be over around 8, so are people going to home or are they going to come back out?” the manager of Max?s Taphouse in Fells Point surmised. “We figure it?s going to be a crapshoot, but we?re preparing for the busiest and we?re hoping for it.”
Siko?s attitude was echoed by restaurant owners, cab drivers and hoteliers throughout Baltimore, where the end of the Raven?s game ? which has a 4:15 p.m. kickoff ? will coincide with partiers ringing in the new year.
Several downtown hotels offering special New Year?s packages are quickly selling out, managers said. Harbor Magic Hotels had only a few packages ? which included champagne, party gear, breakfast and a late check-out ? remaining as of Friday afternoon, and the Hyatt Regency had only 32 rooms available.
“I think we?re goingto sell out without any problem,” sales Manager Mary Sipes said Friday afternoon, adding that she will be attending the sold-out Ravens? game against with Buffalo Bills. “The city will be crazy. The traffic jam will be crazy.”
City police officials said they?re beefing up patrols Sunday evening with 80 percent of the department?s manpower ? the equivalent of 2,000 officers, according to police spokesman Officer Troy Harris.
Traffic officers will be stationed at downtown intersections to “strictly” enforce regulations against parking in permit-only residential areas and keep motorists moving as quickly as possible.
Officers also will be handing out $90 fines for blocking intersections, said Adrienne Barnes, city Transportation Department spokeswoman.
“Gridlocking is a no-no,” Barnes said. “Be mindful where you park and stay alert when you drive.”
Between 75,000 and 100,000 attended last year?s midnight fireworks display, said Tracy Baskerville, a spokeswoman for the nonprofit Baltimore Office of Promotion and The Arts, which produces the event.
She said organizers are hoping a forecast of rain won?t hold people back.
The show will go on, barring a “torrential downpour,” she said. “We?re saying the more, the merrier.”
Examiner Staff Writer Luke Broadwater contributed to this report.
