In an effort to extend the olive branch to State Street businesses harmed during Halloween riots, a group of University of Wisconsin students will present a collective apology to a State Street area business coalition Tuesday.
The petition’s text reads: “We the students of UW-Madison are very disappointed with the events that occurred in the early morning hours of Nov. 3. Whatever the causes were, the damage is now irreversible, because not only was damage done to property, but damage was also done to the trust level community has for students.”
More than 750 people have attached their names to the petition, which was set up on a table at Memorial Union, said Louis Mercer, a UW junior leading the student delegation set to present the petition to the Greater State Street Business Association Tuesday morning.
“I wanted to express that students do care about the community they are in and to take responsibility for their actions and are good citizens,” Mercer said.
Yet some State Street businesses are not sure students should be the ones claiming the blame.
“It’s a great gesture but I’m not sure it’s needed,” said Tara Mathison of Canterbury Books, a member of the business group. “I walked all around on Halloween and it was mainly these 16-year-old punks who wanted to come to Madison for the fun of it. I think it was high schoolers with nothing to do.”
Yellow Jersey manager appreciated the sentiment behind the article, saying, “it’s a thoughtful thing,” but believes the Greater State Street Business Association is an unworthy recipient of an apology, referring to the more than hundred-strong organization as “a bunch of communists.”
Muzi agreed with Mathison that out-of-town visitors were the primary participants in the Halloween melée and have been a root cause for what he said has been a decline in recent years in the quality of Madison’s ritual Halloween celebration.
“Madison’s Halloween used to be the best in America. But in the last few years there’s been a hardcore group that comes in from La Crosse and Eau Claire and jump in the car to come here and get drunk,” Muzi said. “We don’t think it has much to do with people who live here in the neighborhood.”
The commotion ensued when a costume-clad crowd of approximately 65,000 people packed State Street during the annual Halloween celebration. Bottles thrown by partiers in the direction of police sparked a violent confrontation between rioters and officers.
Police arrested at least 16 on charges including looting, disorderly conduct and battery, according to Madison Police Lieutenant Cameron McLay, who described Saturday night’s events as “a gradual escalation of isolated incidences of violence and destructive behavior.”
The windows of around half a dozen State Street businesses were broken during the riot, including Jamba Juice, Badger Liquor, Subway, the Chocolate Shoppe and The Yellow Jersey. Badger Liquor and Princess of India Imports, both on the 600 block of State Street, reported missing inventory Sunday, Nov. 3 after rioters broke windows and stole merchandise.
Madison Police Capt. Bill Housely echoed Muzi and Mathison’s sentiments several days after the riot.
“By and large, I think most of the people were not problematic, particularly people from Madison,” he said. “It’s folks from out of town looking for trouble.”
No UW-Madison students have been charged in connection with the riot.
Yet Mercer brushed off the highly publicized consensus among both students and city officials alike that out-of-towners were chiefly responsible for the mayhem.
“Basically, we are not about who is to blame,” he said. “I guess the statistics say it was mainly visitors, but we are not concerned with that. We want to show the State Street community that we care for them and we support them and that’s our main focus.”
