Milwaukee aldermen will pack up their New Year's hangovers quickly and get to work on resolutions for 2008. And given the consitions of our fair city lately, one of the toppers is, of course, snow removal.

Ald. Bob Bauman wants to make sure that in these snowy times the city does its duty to rid the crosswalks of the debris we know as snow. And he prefers it be done by hand. He's offering a mandate to the city that crosswalk approaches and bus stops be cleared within 24 hours of a snowfall and be done by hand. The cost comparison is $264,000 for shoveling as opposed to $462,000 if it were done by Bobcat or snowblower, according to the accountants at City Hall.

"The mechanical removal snow from the city's crosswalks does not adequately remove snow and ice from the city's crosswalks and impedes pedestrians from crossing the city's streets, especially those pedestrians with disabilities, including those using wheelchairs," reads Bauman's resolution.

Of course, the cost estimate would be accurate if the city actually gets to the task of clearing crosswalk approaches. A former county executive had a similar idea when he proposed that the homeless shovel the walks in exchange for a hot meal and a warm place to sleep.

Light Bright Lights: Highlighting another bright issue for the coming year is state Rep. Fred Kessler, who wants to set the standard for light bulb efficiency in our fair state. He's authored two bills on the subject, apparently with no concern for reducing paper and tree consumption. Kessler wants to set lighting standards for more efficient light bulbs and mandate the amount of mercury that a bulb contains.

According to Kessler, if every home would replace one incandescent bulb with a compact fluorescent, the energy saved would light more than 3 million homes for a year, save more than $600 million in yearly energy costs and cut back emissions equaling that jettisoned by 800,000 cars.

Kessler concedes that fluorescent bulbs have more mercury, so he's offering another bill that would limit the mercury content of bulbs so we're not flooded with cheaply and hazardously-made foreign bulbs.

"This legislation is important because it protects our environment as well as our wallets," says Kessler.

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