As May 4 draws closer, a group of students worried 2013 will be the last chance to preserve the annual Mifflin Street Block Party circulated a petition urging city officials and police personnel to “shift focus from citations to safety” on change.org.
The 2013 Mifflin Street Block Party Facebook page administrator Nicholas Glattard created the petition, in which he acknowledged the safety concerns surrounding Mifflin.
“But we believe that these problems can be solved by focusing the police force on student safety, rather than taking a no tolerance, pro-citation stance on a time honored University of Wisconsin-Madison tradition,” the petition reads.
Madison Food and Alcohol Policy coordinator Mark Woulf, one of the specified petition recipients, said safety and citations are inextricable because the “laissez-faire approach” police took in previous years led to “violent behavior, sexual assaults and ultimately a UW student almost losing his life.” This year, he said, similar to last, the city will patrol Mifflin more strictly to “prevent that from happening again.”
“We remember that,” Woulf said. “I was down there on that day and it was a scary situation, and to have one of our own almost lose their life is actually unacceptable despite the alcohol, and it’s the only way we feel that we can proceed with this event.”
Mayor Paul Soglin, Madison Police Department Chief Noble Wray and University of Wisconsin Police Department Chief Susan Riseling are the other recipients of the petition, which had 692 supporters Wednesday night.
