Despite thousands of dollars' worth of damage done to State Street and surrounding businesses during last weekend's Halloween riots, local store owners and city officials said they still support the annual celebration and hope to see its continuation in upcoming years.
\I really don't think we...should try to end the wonderful tradition that is State Street Halloween,"" Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, said. ""I think attempts to end it would probably backfire and we would probably have another riot on our hands if the police really tried to ban people parading in costume up and down the street.""
Chocolate Shoppe owner Steve Heaps said he agreed the annual celebration should not be axed. The Chocolate Shoppe, 468 State Street, sustained between $500-$700 worth of damage, Heaps said. He said he considered taking precautions next year, but he thinks the situation is out of his hands.
""There were 65,000 people there [Saturday night]. If myself or some of my employees had been here, is that going to stop somebody?"" Heaps said. ""I'm trying to be more optimistic. This was just a one-time thing.""
Now city officials and police are concentrating on how to stop that ""one-time thing"" from reoccurring next year, and the Madison Police Department took the first step toward that goal Monday when it called a press conference to address what went wrong early Sunday morning.
The department deflected criticism that it was understaffed Saturday night, when officials said they employed more than 100 officers by the end of the night. They employed approximately 150 officers Thursday night.
""If we had more officers we would have been able to respond differently but the reality is we probably wouldn't have been able to stop what happened,"" Capt. Bill Housley said.
However, mayoral candidate Paul Soglin said he had talked to a number of merchants, police officers and students Sunday and concluded the police department was understaffed to handle the crowd.
""The [police department] became hand-shy, like a dog,"" he said. ""They were doing their best to keep expenses down. They were sorely understaffed and as a consequence were sorely unprepared.""
After they discussed what went wrong, the officers and community leaders offered suggestions to combat the problem next year.
Madison Police Department Chief Richard Williams said he would like merchants and citizens help police prepare for next year.
Soglin also said community and campus involvement would be critical.
""First there's going to have to be a lot of interchange between police officers and students starting now so both get confidence in one another,"" he said. ""[Then], they've got to get some additional officers into the dorms, fraternities and sororities to emphasize with the students that they've got to lend a hand.""
The police are preparing a full report and recommendations regarding the riots. Madison Mayor Sue Bauman said she would wait to see that report before making her decisions concerning city planning for future Halloweens. However, Bauman said she has already considered exploring alternative activities.
""Maybe we should figure out some other things people can do other than drinking and walking up State Street,"" she said.
