It's hard to make hay in the winter, unless pols are mining for a pothole headline.

Milwaukee Ald. Jim Bohl got some TV face time and a press release all his own announcing his discovery that our fair city has a pothole problem (gasp! -ed.). His press release touts that he is going to meet with the city's Department of Public Works chief Jeff Mantes, which he should do without fanfare. He says he's tired of the time it takes to fill the potholes.

"In terms of responsiveness and efficiency I think it borders on ridiculous," said the alderman.

But the press release also noted that one of the reasons for the pothole problem is that the city changed its accounting method for repaving projects to charge residents 80 percent instead of 50 percent of the cost, which has resulted in much more opposition to repaving projects. Ironically, it's a measure that Bohl voted for.

On the Bus: It was a much-touted measure when the Milwaukee County Transit System started paying Wackenhut to patrol buses. No matter that the drivers said the security was under-trained and essentially non-existent, riding routes for only a short period of time and steering clear of the high-crime rides.

The County Board has taken notice now, too, and has ordered an audit of the effectiveness of Wackenhut. And a motion by Supe Gerry Broderick added an amendment that the audit would also include a review of the diversity of the Wackenhut staff "and their skills in understanding cultural differences."

Tree Chopping: Milwaukee city development officials have tripped some warning flags among environmental folks with talk of chopping down the Downer Woods.

One of many area planning scenarios put forth by the Department of City Development, the Northeast Side Comprehensive Plan offers as the possibility of development of the Downer Woods, which happens to be protected by state statute, in theory.

UWM has pruned the Downer Woods over the course of its history to build, among other things, a parking lot driveway and a residence hall.

One option in the Northeast Side plan suggests, "A development scenario that exchanges the protected Downer Woods (that encompasses roughly one-fifth of the campus) with the other equally valuable protected environmental area so that UWM can use this area to develop additional academic or dormitory space on campus."