Mifflin Street Block Party - Revisited

The Mifflin Street Block Party approached and like clockwork the journalists called asking me for opinions, comparisons, and advice.  Boring.

It was sometime in the mid 1980's that I lost interest in the block party, as it lost its political content and purpose. There were some efforts in subsequent years to add some content, but face it, the block party is nothing more now than an excuse to get drunk and stupid.

As the 1990's appraoched, and I served as mayor agian, I lowered my expectations, accepted the party for what it was and just asked that behavior not be dangerous. That meant minimizing the fights, the trips to detox or the hospitals, and recognizing that the porches of one hundred year old buildings could not hold 67 pairs of stomping feet.

My age has nothing to do with this rather cynical assessment. Rather it is memories of my youth and quickly learned lessons that overconsumption of alcohol and other mind altering substances posed two undesirable outcomes: it ruined sex, and left a horrible headache.

This year, amidst the chaos of the 400 and 500 hundred blocks of Mifflin Street was the heartfelt effort of her family and friends to raise funds to honor the memory of Brittany Zimmerman.

While some students complained about the law enforcement, all I could think of was the incredible waste of money spent on the police presence. The several hundred thousand dollars spent on Mifflin Street and Halloween could pay for additional neighborhood patrols, or nursing services, or better snow removal, or a food pantry.

In the 1960's we ran up some significant overtime bills for police and sheriffs, not to mention the national guard, but it was not to party - it was political and that included the first Mifflin Street Block Party.

There is nothing wrong with a party.

The measurement of a great party is a grand time and the police not showing up.

Comments

[Matt]

One of us used to be the Mayor of this city, and it sure isn't me, but how close does the more than $100,000 in fines the city is likely to recieve (from arresting college students who drank while standing on the sidewalk as opposed to several feet away on someones lawn) come to covering the cost of enforcement?

[erik]

watching completely sober college kids getting their hands tied behind their backs with zip ties for having a beer on the sidewalk, while they stand next to 30 other kids drinking on a lawn, was one of the most pathetic looking exercises in law enforcement i have ever seen. the worst though, was when a friend of mine tried to help an older homeless man by telling him to quickly get on the lawn. although the man did make it safely on the lawn, it was too late. police had spotted him before and dragged him away. christ, go solve some homicides.