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City to sign off on revised Halloween plan

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Also by Lynn Heidmann:

Library Mall to add Subway, coffee shop (March 21, 2007)
Ticket dispute ends in lottery (May 3, 2007)
UW vet student earns book treat (March 9, 2007)

by Lynn Heidmann

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Campus-area alders drafted a final proposal for Mayor Dave Cieslewicz's Halloween plan, adapted following further student input in order to address safety concerns, and the City Council is scheduled to take a deciding vote on the issue today.

The original plan called for no more than 50,000 $5 tickets sold for the State Street event. But in a draft of the proposal acquired by The Badger Herald and written by Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, and Ald. Austin King, District 8, the ticket capacity has been raised to 80,000.

Tickets would be sold from 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 28, until 1:30 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 29, at which point police would begin to clear areas for bar time.

But Verveer said people already on State Street before 7:30 p.m. would not have to pay admission, and people who enter the street shortly before 1:30 a.m. would not necessarily be kicked out. Admission would work on a hand-stamp system, he added, so those wishing to leave and re-enter would not be required to pay twice.

The draft also clearly states free admission would be granted to those living in an establishment only accessible through the gated area. Although Verveer said this process is not fully worked out yet, alders are considering a distribution of tickets to State Street residents and employees either through the mail or door-to-door.

"I hope students overall realize the concessions the mayor's office made today will alleviate some of the concerns that are out there among the student body," he said. "I realize a lot of students will still oppose the principal of a $5 admission system, but knowing the political support is overwhelmingly there at the City Council, we need to move beyond that and try to make improvements to the plan in other ways."

One such improvement that still needs to be addressed, Verveer added, is whether residents of both the University House Towers and Statesider private residence halls will receive free admission tickets since they are technically located on Francis Street.

But despite a few points of contention, Ald. Robbie Webber, whose district covers the campus area west of Camp Randall, said the current Halloween plan is a great compromise from its original form. But no one will ever be completely satisfied with its specific regulations, she added.

"I certainly am not thrilled with the idea of charging people to be on a public street, but then again, I think a compromise is where no one is 100 percent happy," Webber said. "So I think this is as good of an agreement as we're going to get."

In terms of the impact of student input, Verveer and Webber agreed it was a large part of the process and accounted for many of the drastic changes to the mayor's original proposal. If not for student reaction, Verveer added, Cieslewicz may not have compromised his plan at all.

"The majority of the council will probably be very glad to vote for any plan they feel is acceptable," Webber said. "But I think Ald. Verveer and Ald. King have worked very closely with some of the student groups to make changes that will help everyone."

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Anonymous (September 19, 2006 @ 6:54am):

Meh. I guess I'm glad to see changes from the original plan, but are campus-area alders really going to vote for this trash? Won't anyone stick up for the vast sentiment of the student body?

Anonymous (September 19, 2006 @ 3:52pm):

What about those living on opposite sides of State Street on the same through street? I know have to pay $5 to walk across State Street to visit my friends, or walk a half-hour around either way to go a visit someone 200 ft away.