With the Mifflin Street Block Party on the horizon, city officials are anticipating and preparing for more alcohol-related crimes as police plan to increase their presence at the event.
Mark Woulf, Madison’s alcohol policy coordinator, addressed concerns over next month’s block party at a meeting on Thursday night.
Woulf said events including Freakfest and the Mifflin Street Block Party have always raised concerns from the community. With the Mifflin Street Block Party approaching, committee members are worried about the possible alcohol-related crimes and problems.
Woulf said it is difficult to predict the number of people coming to attend the event.
“We wanted our police department to clear out the streets if necessary,” he said. “Having food carts in that area is really going to inhibit that process.”
He added although it is expected that people will flood Mifflin Street for the party, it is still important for officials to make it seem like there is not an event going on so less people will be attracted to the area spontaneously. He said the idea is to keep the street open as long as possible.
Madison Police Capt. Carl Gloede said Mifflin Street does not serve as a good venue for the event.
“We have been trying to create a positive environment on Mifflin Street, and we have not been having the desired success that we had hoped in maintaining the community,” he said. “The focus to the community is to look at ultimately moving the venue to a place that allows for more control. It will be great to limit [the party] to local students.”
Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, said changing the venue of the party has been talked about for years but would only happen “in a perfect world.” He said he was not optimistic that a sponsor would come forward because of the large costs involved.
Verveer said an ideal plan would be changing the location of the party to a city park or a University of Wisconsin property to reduce disturbance to local neighborhoods.
Gloede said this year there will be a higher police presence in the Mifflin area. He said MPD and the Dane County Sheriff’s Office will be there and the focus will be primarily on the campus area.
He added the police will be in the area early that day to try to convey the message that all regulations and ordinances are in compliance. Some residents in the neighborhood are trying to post their properties as private properties with “no trespassing” signs, he said.
“Hopefully we will be over-preparing,” Gloede said. “We will try to tell everybody we cannot have alcohol on the streets. We are anticipating more arrests; we are hoping for fewer.”
Woulf also explained changes to the city’s Alcohol License Density Ordinance.
ALDO, enacted in 2007, placed fines on bars with majority alcohol sales and inappropriate capacity levels, as well as restricting the opening of new bars or liquor stores to already-existing alcoholic establishments. City officials decided to implement a sunset clause to the ordinance to allow its regulations to make further impact.
ALDO’s collection of data takes into account alcohol-related crimes and consumption, as well as “calls for services,” which city officials and police anticipate heavily at the Mifflin Street Block Party.
One additional major change to ALDO includes increased time for property owners who hold alcohol licenses to find another tenant that is an alcohol establishment.
“Why ALDO has extended the time from one year to two is because we were worried that landlords will just want to fill a hole instead of finding a good tenant,” Woulf said.
