Nearly 50 incensed Mifflin Street residents sent a clear message to the Madison Police Department Thursday: they want the Mifflin Street Block Party on April 30.
\The general consensus is just the 30th. Nobody wants it on the 7th,"" said UW-Madison senior and resident of 508 W. Mifflin St. Amy Konkol.
The MPD's expectation that Mifflin residents hold the event on May 7 was met with almost unanimous disapproval.
""What we'd like to do is get the cooperation of the residents that May 7th is the best"" central district commander Captain Mary Schauf said. ""We want to put enough officers out to make sure that the event is safe for everyone attending.""
The meeting between police and Mifflin residents arose out of the scheduling conflict between the Mifflin Street Block Party and final exams, the first of which will begin early the next morning.
According to Schauf and Captain John Davenport, founder of the MPD special events team, the MPD locked officers into special May 7 event patrols. According to Schauf and Davenport, policing an event on an earlier date would mean a financial burden on the department, reallocation of taxpayer dollars and disruption of officers' personal lives. The event last year cost the MPD about $76,000.
Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, who represents the Mifflin Street area, mediated the discussion and apologized for the scheduling error. Schauf assured residents that the MPD has contingency plans for either a date change or a split event.
Although police intimated that revelry on the 30th will be met with harsher punishment, Schauf noted the issue is still open to discussion.
""We will be prepared for whichever way it goes,"" Schauf said.
Several students suggested the police have an opportunity to either ""tarnish their reputations"" or to interact positively with students.
The MPD arranged officer staffing for the event last fall, anticipating a May 7 party. Officers submit requests for vacation time in January. The department was then locked into contractual obligations with the officers' union and may have to cancel police vacations. The department traditionally prohibits officer vacation time for the first Saturday in May to ensure adequate event staffing.
""Our backs are up against the wall,"" Davenport said. ""That is the bottom line.""
The UW calendar is determined two years in advance. However, the MPD failed to anticipate the conflict because exams have never factored so directly into special patrol commitments before.
""I'm surprised they didn't look into this because it is a big part of campus life,"" UW- Madison senior and Mifflin resident Connie Doherty said. ""It just sucks that they aren't realizing exams are important.""
