MADISON, Wis. -- Pepper spray, riot gear and tears are how Madison's Halloween party has ended the past two years.
Mayor Dave Cieslewicz said, "It's all got to change."
Speaking at a Halloween planning meeting, Cieslewicz told the group he feels the same anger toward the riot last year as he did walking through the ruins the morning after.
He has vowed to do everything in his power to make sure there is not a repeat this year.
Police Capt. Mary Schauf kicked off the meeting reminding everyone how bad things got in 2004.
"At about 10:30 p.m. that's when we saw the crowd swell dramatically to about 85,000 people," said Schauf.
Cieslewicz said the abuse to horses, police and property that followed that crowd sell was unacceptable and will not be tolerated this year.
"That is not a successful event," said Cieslewicz. "I don't care if it only happens for a half an hour and the other hours are peaceful. It's still a disaster."
This year the mayor wants Halloween to either go away or be significantly smaller.
He's considering gating off the State Street area and only allow those with a valid UW identification inside.
Another idea would be to close all of the businesses early in the evening.
Despite those measures, Cieslewicz said, "Something has to be done about house parties."
"Alder Skidmore has offered a proposal of keg registration," said Cieslewicz. "I don't know if that's the right way to go but I want you to consider it."
Others at the meeting such as Postermaster owner Dan Waisman agreed that changes are needed but felt that restricting access to State Street would be bad for business.
"State Street is right on the edge of having mom and pops go under," said Waisman. "Having one weekend eliminated could be very important to the livelihood of those stores."
Downtown Alderman Mike Verveer said he doesn't think the party needs to be stopped.
Verveer pointed out that a simple solution might be to fight the congestion on the problem block.
"If we could figure out a way to not let people into the 500 block unless there's enough elbow room to get around and move, I think that would go a long way to solving our problems," said Verveer.
The mayor's suggestions come out of a report prepared by Police Chief Wray and the city attorney detailing some of the ways other communities have dealt with the same kind of problem.
Some ideas were turned down immediately because of feasibility. One of those ideas included shutting down access to the city altogether.
The next Halloween planning meeting is scheduled for May 17 at noon.
Copyright 2005 by Channel 3000. All rights reserved.
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