Issue of the Week: Noise

It looks like Milwaukeeans will have an easier time lodging complaints about unnecessarily loud car stereos, now that a Milwaukee Common Council committee voted to expand South Side Ald. Bob Donovan’s “Operation Bass Busters.”

“We are not interested in chasing after you, but if we have to, by God, we will,” the always quotable Donovan vowed.

Now, residents can simply report the offending vehicle’s information and police will follow up with a warning letter, and then charge the vehicle’s owner with violations if he or she continues to blast their stereo.

Great.

But what about that other noise polluter—motorcycles? It isn’t summer in Milwaukee unless a Harley is revving up at a red light, roaring down your street or idling outside your window.

The new ordinance doesn’t specifically target motorcyclists, probably because the average Harley rider is older, whiter and wealthier than the average “bass blaster.”

Blog of the Week: The Motley Cow

(the-motley-cow.blogspot.com)

John Torinus on Health Care

“Admittedly, the U.S. health care system is a mess, but making it more difficult for people to get health care by increasing their deductibles, say, doesn't make them... well, healthier. In fact, things can only get worse when we let CEOs and MBAs decide when our health care is ‘good.’ CEOs and MBAs are concerned with profit, not with my health.

“The bottom line obviously must be met, but we can do so in a way that will ensure both cost-effectiveness and good social health; we can do it the same way every other industrialized modern nation in the world does it. We take the decision out of the hands of people who measure national health by mere profit and, instead, measure it by... well, by health.”

To read more local blogs, go to blognetwork.expressmilwaukee.com.

Quote of the Week:

“The American dream is on life support.” —columnist Bob Herbert, on recent surveys showing that 8 in 10 Americans say the country is on the wrong track

Hero of the Week: Joseph Zilber

The real estate investor turned philanthropist just announced that he’ll donate $50 million over 10 years to improve the quality of life in 10 low-income Milwaukee neighborhoods. Dubbed the Zilber Neighborhood Initiative, the new organization will work with other partners to raise even more funds and help our city’s neediest residents. We applaud Zilber’s efforts to serve Milwaukee’s poor and vulnerable. His heart is in the right place.

Jerk of the Week: Assisted Living Concepts Inc.

The Menomonee Falls-based chain of assisted-living care centers is flying high on the stock market. But its path to profitability is a bad one: It’s kicking out elderly residents once their savings dry up and they have to go on Medicaid. Then the company takes in new residents who can make private payments and bump up the corporation’s revenue.

Event of the Week: Composting Workshop

Composting is recycling in its purest form. Learn how you can utilize this technique in your own back yard at this Keep Greater Milwaukee Beautiful-sponsored workshop on Saturday, May 17, from noon to 1:30 p.m. at the Mitchell Park Domes. For more information and to register, go to www.kgmb.org.