Madison city officials, University of Wisconsin students and Mifflin neighborhood residents considered multiple presentations concerning safety issues for the upcoming block party at a meeting Tuesday night.
The meeting, hosted by Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, featured presentations by the Madison Police and Fire Departments on how Mifflin Street residents can promote safety at their respective parties.
MPD Lt. David McCaw stressed that city ordinances will be enforced at the block party and the department expects compliance from students.
“The mantra from the Police Department will be 100 percent compliance, and that’s what we’re expecting from the people who come to Mifflin this year,” McCaw said. “All ordinances and issues will be addressed accordingly.”
McCaw also provided estimates for the most commonly cited tickets at the Mifflin Street Block Party, including a $303 fine for open containers on the street, sidewalk or other public property; a noted change from last year’s event that permitted party-goers to drink in the streets.
Other commonly cited tickets include a $177 fine for underage drinking, a $429 fine for possession of a fake ID and a $177 fine for urinating in public.
MPD Sgt. Tony Fiore discussed the issues of hosting parties on Mifflin Street during the block party and said the department writes citations averaging $1,500 per resident for a house party.
He added hosts of house parties at the block party may receive “amnesty,” which would greatly reduce enforcement citations to the hosts, by calling MPD to disperse the party if it has gotten out of control.
“If the party has gotten out of your control, you need to make a choice, and one of those choices is to call the police and have them safely disperse the party,” Fiore said to residents of Mifflin Street. “I can’t promise that there won’t be any enforcement, but certainly any enforcement that comes out of your residence will be considerably less.”
Associated Students of Madison Legislative Affairs representative Maria Giannopoulos said city officials are advocating starting the block party at a later time in the day to lessen drinking and subsequent dangerous activity.
She added students have the responsibility of ensuring the future of Mifflin by promoting a safe event this year.
“Last year Mifflin did not go over so well, and we want to re-brand that and make sure Mifflin is as safe as possible this year,” Giannopoulos said. “People throwing parties and people that are attendees are the people that brand what Mifflin is.”
According to McCaw, MPD will also focus on concerns that visitors from outside Madison contributed to safety problems during last year’s block party. He said officials compiled a list of arrests of students from neighboring colleges, and MPD will email these colleges to update them on changes to the event, including the open container ban.
City officials and students began Mifflin Street Block Party discussions earlier than normal this year to better facilitate strategies to avoid last year’s safety concerns, including the stabbing of two UW students.
“Given the circumstances of what happened at last year’s block party, we felt it was important to engage the neighborhood early and often as we plan toward this year’s event,” Verveer said.
