Mayor Dave Cieslewicz's announcement Thursday morning that the city of Madison had officially set April 30 as the date for the Mifflin Street Block Party came as a huge relief. After months of irrational hope that students would agree to have the party May 7-the eve of the first day of final exams-city officials came to the realization that students would party April 30 whether there was a police presence or not.
City officials were sensible to shift the date to April 30. The city had committed to May 7 as the day to give police officers overtime, and therefore wanted to keep that date. However, when it became apparent that there would be a party April 30 regardless of police presence, Madison cut its losses and set the new date.
\The taxpayers were winners as well [as the students],"" said Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, ""because if we would have continued with this charade, saying the party is on the 7th when we knew full well most people were going to party on the 30th, all we were doing was causing two parties and costing the taxpayers money.""
Although the city acted properly in setting the Block Party for April 30, there is a whole host of new problems that must be addressed.
Though city officials such as Cieslewicz, Verveer and Police Chief Noble Wray have voiced their support for a full-fledged party complete with live music, where the main job of the police is to make sure all revelers are safe, a few members of the Madison Police Department's Central Community Policing Team have threatened to crack down in ways the police have not done at any Mifflin Street Block party in recent memory.
The CCPT, which is in charge of patrolling the downtown neighborhood that includes West Mifflin Street, is threatening to police the Block Party with an iron fist. Officer Carrie Hemming of CCPT has stated that the city will be ""enforcing basic city ordinances"" at the party. This includes cracking down on those who have open intoxicants in the street as well as ticketing houses that host live bands.
This approach is foolhardy on multiple levels. For nearly the past decade, the police have allowed revelers at Mifflin to bend the rules, and the party-goers have returned the favor by acting civil and partying within reason. Because of this implicit agreement, Mifflin has generally been a fun and safe event, and the police have been able to have the street clear relatively early in the evening.
If the CCPT changes the standards for the Mifflin Street Block Party, party-goers will probably not cooperate. Revelers would be angry that the police were not letting them party in a manner that had previously been acceptable, and the potential for an uncivil reaction would skyrocket.
The Mifflin Street Block Party works because the police let minor offenses, such as loud music and open containers of alcohol, slide with the understanding that revelers would return the favor by being civil. Hemming and her colleagues at the CCPT should listen to Verveer, Cieslewicz, Wray, and the student body, and police the party the same way it always has been policed.
