[media-credit name=’YANA PASKOVA/Herald photo’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz addressed Halloween, students' impact on the city and his potential recall while drinking milk and eating cookies at a discussion with University of Wisconsin students Wednesday at Grainger Hall.

The Wisconsin Union Directorate Community Service Committee sponsored the event, "Cookies and Milk with Mayor Dave Cieslewicz," which was meant to give students some direction in how to get involved in the community. Despite the purpose, Cieslewicz was not able to get away from the topic of Halloween, stating the event has glaring issues.

"There are two major problems with Halloween," he said. "The first problem is the cost of the event: $350,000 for the city alone. It's probably a half million with all the regional help we get. There's also the problem of over-consumption of alcohol by young kids."

Cieslewicz said he was at the arrest-processing center at this year's event and was concerned by what he saw.

"It was a tough scene," he added. "Most of the kids there were underage, some were passed out, some were vomiting and some didn't even know their name. When you see that kind of stuff first hand, it seems irresponsible to not respond."

Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, who was not at the milk and cookies event but remains a proponent of Halloween on State Street, said some city officials exaggerate the cost of the event.

"What they don't tell you is that the city brought in a quarter of a million dollars in citations at last year's event," Verveer said. "This year, because there were more fines, I would expect there to be more money generated. They also don't tell you about how much the downtown economy is helped by the event."

Cieslewicz noted that the event would likely continue and that it would be difficult to the end the event differently than years past.

"If it were just a [University of Wisconsin] student event, I don't think it would be such a problem," the mayor said. "But there is a hardcore group of people that come here to have the pepper spray experience."

Cieslewicz also addressed his experience as mayor and the role of students in city government.

"Students are a huge part of Madison. Madison wouldn't be Madison without UW and its students," Cieslewicz said. "What you have with UW is a huge influx of really smart people every year. Any community in America would kill for that."

Despite his success as mayor, which he admitted has been aided by Madison's progressive stance, fueled by students, he still receives his share of criticism, he added.

"That's one of the hard things about the job," Cieslewicz said. "You can't duck or avoid issues. Folks on the right think I'm just a raving democrat. And then there's folks on the left who sometimes think I'm not left enough."

Cieslewicz also addressed the Madison Citizens for Responsible Government efforts for a mayoral recall.

"I hope I can keep my wife away from the petition circulators," Cieslewicz joked. "I think she would like to see me around a little bit more."

Cieslewicz went on to more seriously address the issue.

"I think a recall is designed to deal with some sort of malfeasance," Cieslewicz said. "I don't think I've done anything besides not backing away from my political stances."