lawrider1
08-09-2008, 11:51 PM
does the city council not know where there bread is buttered?
Didn't Miller and Harley Made Milwaukee..........
From the September issue of “American Motorcyclist” magazine;
Sound Crackdown in Milwaukee Citizens Empowered to Launch Prosecutions over Noise
Imagine you’re cruising through Milwaukee on your way to the Harley- Davidson Motor Company’s 105th anniversary celebration on August 28-31. Someone thinks your motorcycle is making a bit too much noise, so he or she files a complaint with the police. The next thing you know, you’re in court, that person is testifying that your motorcycle was too loud as you rode down the road, and you get convicted of violating the city’s noise law.
Never mind that the individual who filed the complaint didn’t have a sound meter to take a sound measurement of your machine, but instead relied on his or her own subjective determination to decide that your bike was too loud.
Sound impossible? It’s not.
In May, the Common Council of the City of Milwaukee changed its sound law to allow any member of the public to file a noise complaint that can lead to prosecution. Law enforcement officers are not required to witness the alleged violation, nor even to investigate the complaint.
The law is in effect until Jan. 1, 2009, a time span that includes Harley-Davidson’s 105th anniversary celebration.
Lawmakers claim that it’s expensive to enforce and control sound from vehicles, so that’s why the law gives citizens the power to launch a prosecution.
AMA Government Affairs Manager Imre Szauter has studied sound ordinances around the nation, and says this is one of the most draconian he has seen in years.
“Giving citizens the power to launch a prosecution of a motorcyclist for excessive sound based on what they think they heard is unfair,” Szauter said. “By removing an actual law-enforcement investigator from the prosecution, the council has created a system that’s not only entirely subjective, but ripe for abuse. It makes no sense.”
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Didn't Miller and Harley Made Milwaukee..........
From the September issue of “American Motorcyclist” magazine;
Sound Crackdown in Milwaukee Citizens Empowered to Launch Prosecutions over Noise
Imagine you’re cruising through Milwaukee on your way to the Harley- Davidson Motor Company’s 105th anniversary celebration on August 28-31. Someone thinks your motorcycle is making a bit too much noise, so he or she files a complaint with the police. The next thing you know, you’re in court, that person is testifying that your motorcycle was too loud as you rode down the road, and you get convicted of violating the city’s noise law.
Never mind that the individual who filed the complaint didn’t have a sound meter to take a sound measurement of your machine, but instead relied on his or her own subjective determination to decide that your bike was too loud.
Sound impossible? It’s not.
In May, the Common Council of the City of Milwaukee changed its sound law to allow any member of the public to file a noise complaint that can lead to prosecution. Law enforcement officers are not required to witness the alleged violation, nor even to investigate the complaint.
The law is in effect until Jan. 1, 2009, a time span that includes Harley-Davidson’s 105th anniversary celebration.
Lawmakers claim that it’s expensive to enforce and control sound from vehicles, so that’s why the law gives citizens the power to launch a prosecution.
AMA Government Affairs Manager Imre Szauter has studied sound ordinances around the nation, and says this is one of the most draconian he has seen in years.
“Giving citizens the power to launch a prosecution of a motorcyclist for excessive sound based on what they think they heard is unfair,” Szauter said. “By removing an actual law-enforcement investigator from the prosecution, the council has created a system that’s not only entirely subjective, but ripe for abuse. It makes no sense.”
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