The 2009 installment of the Mifflin Street Block Party has come and gone. And to the delight of concerned students on the
There were no gates, no admission fees — in fact, by many accounts, the party was relatively similar to parties before it. With one big exception.
Arrests dropped dramatically.
About 140 people were arrested on Saturday, a dramatic drop from the 400 plus who were booked just last year. And while 140 arrests may still seem inherently high, we are prepared — for the first time in quite a while — to give our police force the benefit of the doubt.
Madison Police Chief Noble Wray said last year that a sponsor would be the only way to have arrest numbers drop after five years of exponential growth. And while the on-again, off-again sponsorship by DCNY PRO left us confused, at the end of the day, the sponsorship plan worked.
It appeared that cops were much looser this year than in years past — individuals with open intoxicants in the streets or on sidewalks were frequently given, at worse, the evil eye or a friendly reminder to move.
We believe the “experiment” that was this year’s Mifflin Street Block Party can pave the way for an even better event in the years to come. We hope the addition of DJs thanks to WSUM leads to live bands making a return to the party, and certainly the food vendors pleased drunken revelers late in the afternoon.
This year’s event was put together quickly and it seemed hastily in some ways as well. As we recommended before, we hope organizers and city leaders get started on planning next year’s event sooner rather than later.
But overall, the party took one giant step forward on Saturday — the beautiful weather certainly helped. But aside from that, students should be pleased, as should city leaders. The event is back on its way to what it once was.
