Planning of the 2009 Mifflin Street Block Party continued at the Downtown Coordinating Committee meeting Thursday, where Capt. Mary Schauf presented the Madison Police Department’s preliminary plans for the event.
Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, is currently working with local production company DCNY PRO to sponsor the May 2 event. This sponsorship would be the first since the mid-1990s.
However, the main concern of the night was how Mifflin attendees could learn the rules that will be instated at the block party.
“One thing we talked about was increasing signage and notices,” Schauf said. “If you’re new in the area, we’ll up the number of signs and prohibit parking by covering the two-hour (parking meter) signs.”
Ald. Eli Judge, District 8, said reaching out via student press is also a good way to capture students’ attention and make them understand the rules of the party. He added that Facebook is another good tactic for getting the word out, but it is not always dependable.
“One person made a Mifflin event and then several hundreds made others for friends, and it’s so hard to centralize that information,” Judge said.
DCC member Rosemary Lee suggested having officers at all entrances to Mifflin Street who would warn people not to bring open bottles of liquor onto the street.
Schauf said that wouldn’t be necessary, adding students should not become too intoxicated, encouraging them to keep track of the number of drinks they consume.
She added that police see people who are extremely impaired during Mifflin and detoxification centers overflow as many people are sent to the hospital for alcohol poisoning.
“I’m not saying don’t have a nice time, but your nice time shouldn’t end up in a trip to detox or shouldn’t end up where your friends [have] to carry you home,” Schauf said. “And if you do go in a group of friends, don’t ditch the friend. Friends don’t ditch friends.”
Schauf said she spoke to Mifflin residents last year and a person expressed concern about strangers entering houses uninvited. According to Schauf, a number will be made available before the party so that Mifflin residents can contact an on-duty officer for help; however, if a person is in dire need of help, they should call 911.
“The thing with any kind of open festival is all types of people come and they aren’t necessarily the kind of people you want in your house,” Schauf said. “We like to emphasize with residents your safety and the safety of people you have invited to home is the utmost importan[ce].”
Schauf said attendees need to be mindful of their safety and advised people to not carry more than they’re willing to lose due to the large number of attendees on the street.
After looking at staffing levels for the past few years, police saw no reason to increase the number of police on the streets, according to Schauf. However, in case of an emergency, she said there are always backup officers who will be available onsite to respond.
