There have been a number of changes to the proposed Madison Nuisance Party Ordinance, a piece of
legislation which, if passed, would hold landlords accountable by issuing them fines when their lessees
throw “nuisance” parties. These fines will almost certainly be passed on to lessees, but even aside from
that, the Nuisance Ordinance seems like another obvious excuse for cops to raid parties in order to
issue fines. Furthermore, pieces of the bill seem to be part of a preemptive attack on the Mifflin Street
Block Party.

The previous version of the bill listed an impressive nine ways for a party to qualify as a “nuisance.” However, at least four of the provisions had to be met in order for a party to qualify as a nuisance. Now,
there is an outstanding 17 different ways for a party to qualify as a nuisance, and yet, only one needs to
be met in order for a party to be a nuisance.

The provisions of this bill are asinine. Local legislators cannot affect change at the federal level. There is
nothing they can do to change, for example, the absurd drinking age of 21, but Madison can control how
laws are enforced within its jurisdiction by its officers.

Of the 17 potential nuisance-qualifiers, one requires that party hosts specifically take action to
prevent “minors” from consuming alcohol. Leaving aside the absurdity that one is, at 18, old enough to
be drafted but not old enough to drink alcohol, this is completely unenforceable. You know it, I know it,
Madison officials know it.

Other qualifiers include such generalities as “The production or creation of noises disturbing the
peace” and “disorderly conduct.” It’s fine for bars to play loud music until late into the night, but when
students want to have a party at their house, this is totally unacceptable and disturbs the imaginary
peace on campus. 

My favorite nuisance-qualifier, so important that it gets a provision all to itself, permits police to
deem a party a nuisance if at any time an open keg is visible to the public. I don’t understand the
reasoning behind this at all. Save the children? We wouldn’t want them to see drunk people, after
all; that could damage them. Madison officials want to keep drinking out of the public eye, so that the
aforementioned minors in addition to us old fogies who are 21 and over will instead get drunk in dark
basements and frat houses. Yeah, that’ll probably work.

Another of the 17 nuisance-qualifiers is peculiar in that it could specifically be used as an excuse to
break up any party at the Mifflin Street Block Party. One of the stipulations permits police to call any party which
obstructs streets or sidewalks a nuisance party.

This has obvious and serious repercussions for the Block Party, seeing as every single party on
the street would fall under this provision. This whole bill is arguably an attack on the Block Party, and frankly,
whether to have the party should not even be an issue.

I don’t know how the city plans on stopping the party to begin with, but it shouldn’t be and doesn’t
need to be stopped. It’s a Madison tradition. It has roots going back to the ’60s as a celebration in remembrance of the protests for democratic reforms in France. Mayor Paul Soglin himself was involved in
them.

Some have criticized Soglin for coming out in opposition to the party after having been so involved in its early
years. I’m not going to do that; the party has indeed changed an awful lot since the days of Soglin, but
that doesn’t mean it has become vacuous.

What began as a legitimate protest, with celebrations largely fueled by marijuana, has become a more
lighthearted celebration of springtime and the end of the academic year, fueled mostly by alcohol. Still,
it is an expression of that which is Madison.

That being said, as such, it reflects poorly on the UW community when the party gets out of
hand, like last year. It doesn’t matter that most of the perpetrators are not from Madison. We own Mifflin. It’s ours, and we’re responsible, good or bad, for what happens there.

Madison has long had a reputation across the nation and especially in the Midwest for excellent
academic programs in addition to having a reputation for excellent parties. There’s nothing wrong with
that. Many students are proud of it. However, if we want to keep both of these reputations intact, as
well as the Block Party itself, we need to take it upon ourselves to do better.

Ryan Plesh ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in philosophy and physics.