Milwaukee used to have taxi stands Downtown (newsstands, too! -ed.), but now there seems to be only one, in front of the Intercontinental Hotel on Kilbourn and Water. There is also one on North Avenue in front of the East Library but it could use higher traffic and could be larger.

What that means is if one can't catch a cab at a stand, or flag one down on the street, one has to wait at a bar or some other locale for a ride -- not exactly what some want when a drunk is retching about or making uncomfortable advances on a drinking night.

The City of Madison has seen the light and started taxi stand service on University Avenue.

"Well-placed and frequently serviced taxi stands have been shown to reduce concentrations of intoxicated patrons and improve patron safety by reducing the opportunity for crime," says Madison Mayor David Cieslewicz.

Well put. Recently, Seattle developed several late-night taxi stands near its entertainment district through the "Last Call" Public Health Department initiative. Madison's plan is a public-private partnership between the city and its three cab companies. The stands will operate from midnight to 3 a.m.

Not only does Milwaukee need more taxi stands, in a truly big city, one can flag down rides, too.

Hard at Work Until the End: City of Milwaukee taxpayers should be rest assured that their elected officials were hard at work right up to the end of their terms. The Common Council scheduled the last meeting of its term on Wednesday -- a mere five days before the council switches hands. The big inaugural party takes place April 15.

It's an opportunity for the council to finish some work before facing the uncertainty of what the two new members of the council would do. One item is Police Chief Ed Flynn's desire to reorganize the department's command structure, which was sent back to him for further review late last month and was scheduled for a special hearing Wednesday morning.

Given the coughs echoing around the chambers at Wednesday's meeting, it's a good thing the body is adjourned.

A Smoking Ban Grenade: Here's the latest grenade tossed into the smoking ban debate -- smoking bans might inadvertently cause increased amounts of driving accidents. Two state researchers published a study in the Journal of Public Economics suggesting that smokers will drive longer distances to drink in taverns that allow smoking, thus making them statistically more likely to get into an accident.

Chad Cotti, one the co-researchers, suggested that non-smokers driving further to find a non-smoking place to hang could face the same risk.

"At first it was quite startling," Cotti told the press of the findings.

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