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State Debate: Plans to help homeless should include empathy

A 8/19 roundup of editorials in state papers

Compiled by Judie Kleinmaier  —  8/19/2008 10:14 am

Plans to help homeless should include empathy, says the Appleton Post-Crescent.

The city of Green Bay has been advised to address its chronic homeless problem with a business approach rather than a social service one. That seems odd when you consider nonprofits and religious organizations typically spearhead services for this population.

City leaders were told that the costs associated with the "chronically homeless" can run into the millions -- for emergency room visits, medical tests, incarceration and ambulance rides.

Many communities are now adopting 10-year plans and trying to find solutions to homelessness, especially the "chronic" piece of it. One goal of such plans is to pinpoint where hidden costs are and study alternatives that can be cheaper and more effective.

We'd hate to see this new approach be just a bureaucratic program that shuffles people off the street without serving their long-term needs. As with any "solution" to homelessness, substance abuse and mental health treatment, along with job and other "life skills" training, must be included.

Marquette Interchange done early and under budget, notes the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

For Gov. Jim Doyle, today's ceremony marking the completion of the Marquette Interchange should be especially satisfying. The largest road project in state history has been completed nearly three months ahead of schedule and millions under budget.

The project has won national awards for the way it was managed, which is a credit to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation and its secretary, Frank Busalacchi.

Busalacchi chaired an oversight committee, made up of DOT officials, federal highway reps and contractors. The secretary insisted the committee meet twice a month without fail in a building on-site so everyone could see problems and progress firsthand.

"Several national contractors told us that the reason a lot of big projects fail is people don't talk to each other," Busalacchi said.

The new interchange is also a vast improvement on motorist safety. Gone are the dangerous left-hand ramps and other design defects.

Pickens' ideas about alternative fuels make sense, says the La Crosse Tribune.

The most interesting thing about this year's presidential campaign might not be the candidates themselves but an old Republican oil man with an idea.

T. Boone Pickens, a conservative who donated the money for the "Swift boat" ad campaign against Democrat John Kerry in 2004, has weighed in this time with a decidedly un-Republican idea.

Pickens, who has made a fortune drilling for oil, argues that this is one energy crisis we cannot drill our way out of. He wants to do two things:

Convert the U.S. fleet of heavy trucks from diesel to natural gas. While he contends that he is not talking about using natural gas for cars, there certainly is no reason we could not do that as well.

Develop wind power in a big way.

We absolutely need to develop alternatives to oil. Just ask an oil man.

A creative fix for our energy troubles, notes the Green Bay Press-Gazette.

Brown County's proposal to convert landfill gas into usable energy is an example of what needs to be done to create a sustainable community.

In a landfill, garbage decomposes, much of it forming methane and other gases that are burned off to avoid a potentially explosive situation. Now Brown County is working on a plan to convert that once-wasted gas into energy. The $4 million project could generate as much as $7 million in revenue, and the $3 million profit can be used to maintain and protect county landfills.

The proposal shows that even what we have generally considered waste can be recycled creatively and usefully.

Compiled by Judie Kleinmaier  —  8/19/2008 10:14 am