NEWS
Businesses feel effects of State Street damage
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Also by Michelle Samenfeld:
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by Michelle Samenfeld
Wednesday, November 5, 2003
After the co-owners of Dick & Jane suffered through trying opening months, thousands of dollars in damage from last Saturday night may be too much for the new business to absorb.
Co-owner Don VanWart said he estimated Dick & Jane’s losses from the uprising of State Street Halloween partiers to be around $7,000. In addition to replacing the broken glass storefront, products were ruined when the glass shattered, their awning needs replacement, and the display they put out less than 24 hours earlier was ruined.
According to VanWart, the merchandise Dick & Jane orders takes months to arrive and is no longer available because of the upcoming holiday shopping season.
“Let’s call a spade a spade. This might have been a small riot, but it was a riot,” VanWart said in an interview. VanWart said last weekend was an example of incidents that are forcing local independent businesses off State Street.
“If you ask me today, I think there is a higher attraction of leaving than moving in the area,” he said.
While VanWart noted that businesses are insured, their deductibles could still cost them $1,000 or more.
VanWart blamed the Madison police for not controlling the crowd soon enough, and for neglecting to control the over-packed guest rooms of the University Inn, where revelers smashed nearly all the windows facing State Street. Many city officials and business owners say they agree the hotel was a “flashpoint” that incited the crowd of 5,000.
“The city did not make sure they were not violating the law,” VanWart said.
Out-of-town students who stayed at the University Inn were already booking the same rooms for next year, said Madison Police Officer Mike Edler at a Greater State Street Business Association meeting Tuesday morning.
Edler also said the hotel had just two desk staff working at the time of the disturbance and they were incapable of monitoring the approximately 30 rooms all by themselves.
“The hotel was totally trashed. The hallways were covered with beer, wine, urine, vomit, and pizza,” City Council President Mike Verveer said in an interview.
Verveer thinks the University Inn should definitely be addressed in next year’s plans because of its history for problematic crowds in the windows. During previous holiday weekends, guests have exposed themselves, engaged in stimulated sex and done stripteases, in addition to yelling at crowds on the street.
Also at Tuesday’s Greater State Street Business Association meeting, Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz discussed several issues the city will address for next year’s planning.
Bar time will be an issue because most of the larger incidents have occurred when crowds were forced onto the street. The 500 block of State Street, where the University Inn is located, is an area that will be under scrutiny for next year.
Cieslewicz also admitted that staging the Killer Party bands in Library Mall was an opportunity for unwanted crowds to gather.
“The bands were a good idea, but it did not work,” he said.
But according to co-creator of the party, Will Komassa, crowds dispersed immediately following the last band around 1:15 a.m.
University of Wisconsin junior Ryan Jenness attended the Killer Party and disagrees with assertions that the crowds from the party were a part of the riots.
“Everyone left pretty much right away after the last band,” Jenness said. “It was a pretty chill crowd.”
Jane Weldon, a co-owner of the store Tomboy Girl, located on the 500 block of State Street next to Dick & Jane, said the police should have taken action earlier in the night to end the mosh pit that formed on the 500 block around 1:30 a.m. Madison Police Capt. Luis Yudice said the department didn’t act sooner because of the normalcy of mosh pits at concerts and other events.
“A mosh pit in streets surrounded by glass-front stores doesn’t seem normal,” Weldon said.
Tomboy Girl’s windows were smashed and Weldon said tiny shards of glass and a shimmery powder of broken glass covered her store and her merchandise, preventing her from selling any of it.
“Everything could have shrouds of glass in it,” Weldon said.
