DNR Would Crack Down on Cruising

Milwaukee Police are having a hard time keeping up with teens and young adults cruising down city streets in the wee hours of the morning.

79 arrested for weekend cruising
Milwaukee police arrested 79 people over the weekend for cruising when hundreds of cars gridlocked parts of the north side, police said this morning.In response, police are taking a new step: taking down license plate numbers and sending a letter to the owners of those cars telling them their vehicle was part of a cruising problem, said Anne E. Schwartz, department spokeswoman.

The cruising starts about 2:30 a.m. after bars close. Groups form up outside the clubs, which often are on North Ave. and go north from there, Schwartz said. The cars block traffic and some were driving up on sidewalks near N. 60th St. and W. Capitol Ave., she said.

Hundreds of cars idling for hours? I say we should get the DNR on the case.

According to the partners for clean air:

• You will save more gas by turning the engine off and restarting it again if you expect to idle for more than 30 seconds.
• By avoiding long idles you will prevent pollution.
• Idling can consume as much as a gallon of gas per hour. Idling also wastes more fuel than restarting the engine.
• Excessive idling can actually damage your engine components, including cylinders, spark plugs, and exhaust systems.

As we know, the DNR has no problem with aggressive enforcement.

Let us then institute "Ozone Action Nights" and let the DNR take care of the cruising problem.

Keep the streets, and our, air clean.

Well, beats mailing out nasty notes.