‘We were relieved to get our kids out of Chicago, but …’
The University of Wisconsin’s Madison campus was never a monastery. Often enough, the carillon bells on top of Observatory Drive get drowned out on football Saturdays, Mifflin Street block parties, or various protests.
Today’s must-read Wisconsin State Journal report on a rash of loud parties in the shadow of Camp Randall Stadium, then, would be the journalistic equivalent of dog bites man except that something’s happening here and what it is, is becoming more clear. The Werkes inserts numerals into the newspaper’s report to count the ways: The campus parties …
were different from the usual college house party in the largely white neighborhood near UW-Madison: 1) big, 2) loud, 3) most of the attendees were black, 4) some were younger than college age and some older, 5) and instead of arriving by foot, many in the crowd showed up in vehicles. 6) The volume of the parties attracted attention, even in this neighborhood accustomed to beer-soaked bacchanals on football Saturdays.
“Large house parties are very common,” [Police Captain Jason] Freedman said. “The area is known for them.” But a party of several hundred people, with 7) public urination and vomiting, is less common, he said. … 8) “It is uncommon if there’s zero connection to anyone in the building.”
And Number 9 (Number Nine, Number Nine …) a drive-by shooting, that on August 14 when 17-year-old “fun-loving” non-college student Jovan Freeny got whacked the day after appearing in court on four felony charges of his own.
Not a one-off
A young woman who IS a UW student woke up three days later in the early hours of August 17 to gunshots ringing out in front of her apartment in the 400 block of Gilman Street. She captured the shooting in the accompanying photo.
Two days later, the student’s mother, Shannon Waterfield, met with city and university officials. According to the mother, Officer Kraig Kalka confirmed “an enormous increase in gang-related crime in downtown Madison and adjacent to the campus.” She has started petition to the mayor and council:
We are a group of concerned parents regarding our students’ safety attending the University of Wisconsin in light of the growing gang activity occurring on campus and around off campus housing. We demand the following action items be immediately executed:
- Close streets down,
- Increase police presence,
- Install more cameras/interface UW cameras and Madison cameras,
- Better communication between campus police and Madison police.
Send your concerns to:
Chancellor Rebecca Blank chancellor@wisc.edu.
Dean of Students Christina Olstad olstad2@wisc.edu
Mayoral chief of staff Mary Bottari mbottari@cityofmadion.com
Alder Mike Verveer district4@cityofmadison.com
She is also encouraging attendance at the next Madison Common Council 08-31-21.
“We were relieved to get our kids out of Chicago. … but my daughter woke me up with news of some people shooting very large guns. … The police officer confirmed you have gang activity and those gang members are coming from Chicago to Madison because of the opportunities.” — Shannon Waterfield.
Her testimony before the Common Council’s Executive Committee 08-24-21:
Blaska’s Bottom Line: The irony is that a young black man would be alive today if police remained on scene. Neighbors called police to monitor the party but the stretched-thin forces were diverted away to another call.
Education
Blaska Policy Werkes 
Progressives will no doubt respond that Madison is remarkably safe compared to similar sized cities. Not so safe for young black men encountering other young black men.
How dare that woman from Chicago use the Chicago dog whistle!
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Fer gidit. The assumption that cops can stop violence or reduce gang membership is naive. What is required is a revolutionary change in social and personal values. Hip Hop told Gang Ster-Rap dat ain’t ’bout to happen. The vortex of decline. Embrace it. Man-up; get concealed carry; stay way from newly colonized areas of da hood.
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You are right on…. “It’s the culture, stupid”.
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Beefier gun laws?
Millions of gelatinous democrats claim with great certainty the answer to gun violence is really that simple.
Perhaps we should hear them out and relax our attachment to that 2nd Amendment thingy.
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Agreed, Batman.
How many times do we have to explain to them that criminals will always find a way to access guns and do harm? Or that most of the guns involved in crimes have been gotten illegally? Or that the more that crime rises and police are defunded, the higher legal gun sales will rise?
Not sure if they’re not capable of getting it, or if they’re just too arrogant to see past their own talking points.
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One of the most important statements above was, “Neighbors called police to monitor the party, but the stretched-thin forces were diverted away to another call”.
Yes folks, MPD was there and got called away for something (at the time) that was more serious. Thank the mayor, her REgressive Dane worshippers on the council, and those on the council who she contributed to and are paying her back. Could we say blood is on her hands? Some would.
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I’ve heard a lot of horns honking, tires screeching and seen quite a few near misses on the University Ave./W.Johnson St. corridor. I’ve been stopped at a red light on Randall/University and had to lay on the horn to alert motorists/pedestrians of a speeding car proceeding through the red light at a high rate of speed. The students have been historically bad at crossing the street and having situational awareness and do a great job of putting themselves in dangerous situations so I worry that there is going to be a situation where there are casualties or fatalities due to a reckless driver blowing an intersection. Otherwise there have been a lot of vagrancy/panhandling and so on. The same guy hits me up for change at the Kwik Trip on Monroe St. every morning. Priorities have definitely changed, the UWPD doesn’t shoo these characters along anymore. Safety concerns are only going to be more pronounced in a couple weeks with classes resuming.
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Maybe someone will listen when students parents send them to a different college or university, but this will be considered systemic racism.
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You’re correct, Robert, money is the universal language UW understands.
As for so-called systemic and/or institutionalized racism, the blame squarely rests on the sloped shoulders of the secular-progressives since they’ve been running the UW system and the institution for many, many years.
You know why UW bureaucrats have flat foreheads and short necks?
Every time you ask them a question, they shrug their shoulders, and then when you tell them the answer, they slap their foreheads.
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Wait a minute! Institutional racism at UW-Madison? Can’t be. Not after Chancellor Blank and her minions heroically removed the last vestige of racism by evicting Chamberlain Rock from campus.
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You can still take your kids out of Chicago but you can no longer take Chicago out of Madison. Ask Emonte and his brother.
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Thanks for the spotlight. Been meanin’ to ask about this turn of events, but had to wait a bit. Gotta add that the ol’ “Broken Window” enforcement of days o’ yore could have ALSO changed the result, NOT just the LEO’s being called away at an inopportune time… Make some arrests each & every time, deliver some consequences.
Midtown District Capt. Jason Freedman said, “It IS (my caps) uncommon if there’s zero connection to anyone in the building.”
Further, “Tehesha Williams said her son, Jovan Freeny, a father-to-be set to start his junior year at Capital High School this year after moving from Verona High School, attended the party”. Young Jovan, “father-to-be”, certainly knew his priorities…
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Parents are understandably upset and I credit them for speaking up. Too bad, though, that it always seems to take crises to motivate people.
As for their demand:
“Increase police presence”
I’m sure the MPD would if they could. That area is already one of the most heavily policed areas in the city.
This is PRECISELY why some of us fought like crazy to support local law enforcement and why we pleaded with people to get involved. We were well aware of the trajectory back then.
People don’t want to hear this, but a lot of damage, some of it possibly irreparable, has already been done to law enforcement. Asking City Council to hire more cops at this juncture is but a bandage on a gaping wound. The problems run much deeper.
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Great news! They get exactly what they asked for.
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In addition to the above list of recommendations to increase public safety in and around campus: dislodge the hordes of homeless (aka drug addicts/dealers, mentally ill, alcoholics) on State Street and Library Mall who seem to think they can appropriate public spaces by setting up housing wherever they choose (and why shouldn’t they, since Madison cops have been told to turn a blind eye to their antics?).
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I had a conversation with a liberal acquaintance the other day and he said that he was working hard to support a friend that is on a campaign to re-elect one of Portland Oregon’s city alders. He said that he wanted to go to Portland to visit his friend but his friend told him that he would only pick him up in the downtown area in the daytime. I asked my acquaintance why that was. He replied that his friend told him that downtown Portland was way, way to dangerous at night and that he was afraid of getting shot or stabbed.
I then asked this acquaintance who was visiting his friend, the one running for re-election for the Portland City Council, if his friend had voted or stumped for defunding the Police. He said yes, his friend was for defunding the Police in Portland.
They just don’t get it.
The more you allow deviant behavior the more deviant behavior you will get.
So go ahead and support the vast majority of our city council, our mayor, the Ted Wheelers, Gavin Newsom’s, Tony Evers, and Joe Biden’s of the world. See where that gets you.
In the end, a Hell of your own making.
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“They just don’t get it.”
Mind boggling that they can’t connect the pieces, isn’t it? They’re so enamored by their Progressivism & Marxism that they’re incapable of seeing reason.
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