MADISON, Wis. — The Madison Police Department is anticipating there will be 10,000 people attending the Mifflin Street block party on Saturday.
The block party is held annually by students on the last Saturday of April as a celebration before final exams.
Mike Hanson is the Madison Police Central District Captain said safety is the number one goal during Saturday’s block party.
“We have plenty of resources and plans from a command post setup to drones that will be in the air to monitor the crowd size, to back yards to make sure that people are kept safe,” said Hanson.
In 2022, three people were injured when a porch collapsed during the Mifflin Street Block Party.
Matt Tucker, building inspection director for the City of Madison, said he and his team started doing building inspections in February of this year.
“About 24 things we wanted people to fix. These differ from lattice work beneath porches or some porches, decks and balconies that are in need of repairs,” said Tucker.
Tucker said most of the things they requested that the landlord’s fix were completed. He said there were some that have not addressed the problems yet.
“We are going to require those property owners to have those porches, decks or balconies basically roped off, fenced off or unoccupied if they were unable to have the work done,” said Tucker.
On Thursday, many landlords were on Mifflin Street were fixing their homes in preparation for the black party on Saturday.
District 8 Alderman MGR Govindarajan said it is not just city officials’ duties to make sure students stay safe during the block party, they also have a part to play.
”I think this is the first Mifflin in a couple years where it is not expected to rain the whole time and it is supposed to be kind of hot,” said Govindarajan. “People will be drinking and there will be a big crowd so stick with your friends, stay close to people and stay hydrated.”
Eight days ago, University Housing released a statement saying:
“Although this is not a University-sponsored event, we do see a large amount of students who choose to attend. Due to the nature of this event, the behavior students engage, and its proximity to several residence halls, University Housing will enact several policies in some residence halls that will be in effect on Saturday, April 27th. The goal of these policies is to maintain the safety of our residence hall students, as well as the community. During this time, several of our residence halls will implement additional measures such as check-in stations and additional staffing presence. All residence halls will have guest restrictions.”
The statement warns about the dangers of BORGs (Black Out Rage Gallons) as the campus reports an increased number of students who need medical attention for alcohol poisoning when they are present.
“It is a lot of alcohol that people are drinking,” said Govindarajan. “It is a big concern for safety and what we see is students are really drunk, they get into situations they wouldn’t when they are sober.”
There are several on campus alcohol resources available for those in need of help.