Mayor Dave Cieslewicz's plan for Halloween 2006 includes a $5 admission fee to State Street and an ad campaign to brand the event as a ""safe, positive, festive"" experience, is soon to be a reality.
According to the spokesperson for Cieslewicz, the goal is to end confrontations with police, reduce the cost to the city for the event and address dangerous levels of intoxication.
The plan has already been approved by three committees and is expected to gain final approval at the Sept. 5 City Council meeting.
It initially contained a controversial 50,000-person limit on State Street, but a city committee has lifted that provision, said Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4. He called the limit ""an outrageously low number.""
""Frankly, we need to say there is no cap,"" Verveer said, who still supports the mayor's plan to charge admission.
The mayor's office now says more than 50,000 tickets could be sold if police determine there is enough room.
Ashok Kumar, Dane County supervisor for District 5, questioned the mayor's motives and helped write an open letter to Cieslewicz protesting the planned changes.
""If the real concern of the city was intoxication levels and violence, they would actually choose to shut down the bars,"" Kumar said. ""At least ask more students before coming up with a proposal.""
Though the 50,000-person limit has been lifted, Kumar and Ald. Austin King, District 8, are concerned about the celebration spilling over to surrounding areas such as Langdon Street.
In a Board of Estimates meeting Aug. 28, King cast the lone vote against the mayor's proposal. He said he would force the mayor to address potential spillage from State Street.
Many students have supported moving the Halloween festivities away from State Street in light of the $5 admission fee. A Facebook group created by UW-Madison sophomore Tom Wangard that supports moving the Halloween festivities to Langdon Street has almost 5,000 members.
Halloween has long been a source of concern for city officials who think drinking has gone too far on campus, and many hope the new plan will reverse the trend of the last several years.
""I think the mayor is attempting to reclaim it (Halloween) to something that's safe,"" said Ald. Paul Skidmore, district 9, who proposed a keg registration law several times last year. ""Do I think it's a great idea? No. But it might be the last best idea.""
