The neighbors around the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee have something huge to start complaining about in 2007.

It's not the fact that in 2006, Milwaukee saw 103 murders.

It's not the fact that out of the 103 people murdered within the city of Milwaukee in 2006, 35 percent were under 21 years old.

It's not the fact that the number of homicides in Milwaukee in 2006 was 20 percent higher than in 2004.

It's not the fact that in 2006, one of the most known sexual predators in the area was released into the public unsupervised.

It's not even the fact that a Milwaukee alderman has two different Social Security numbers and operates under an alias, or that that alderman committed illegal activity, was arrested, but then got away with it.

No, it's not any of that. It's something far worse.

"Oh, dear, my stupid yard signs were stolen!"

Residents living around UWM have had yard signs in their yards for the past several months that demand that the university cap its enrollment. The signs also oppose UWM's potential purchase of the Columbia Hospital property with the purpose of creating new student housing.

Early on the morning of Jan. 3, a number of these yard signs were taken from the yards of homes on Frederick, Murray and Cramer streets, immediately south and west of the UWM campus.

An e-mail went out to neighborhood leaders later that same day asking anyone with information to contact the District 5 police department.

This gross overreaction to such a minor act is true to form for neighborhood leaders living around UWM. These neighbors have had such tunnel vision and focus so much on the tiny little issues that exist in their neighborhood, and react to them as though the sky was falling.

Typical topics of life-ending concern for UWM neighbors include:

"I can't park in front of my house because I bought a house next to the state's second-largest university, so now you have to make my street 'resident only' parking because I can't live with my decision to move in here, or stay, for that matter."

"It's so horrible that all of these students rent houses in the neighborhood. All of the houses should be owner-occupied and should not be rental units because I can't deal with college students as neighbors."

"I pay property taxes, therefore, I am better than the college students renting the house next door, and you must place greater weight and value on my opinion."

"It's 2 a.m., and my college student neighbor is behaving exactly as I did when I was in college, and has a group of friends over for a party. How dare they. I must call the police and whine about the stupid noise violation."

Over the course of the fall semester at UWM, more than 200 noise/nuisance citations were written in the UWM campus vicinity. UWM gives the Milwaukee Police Department $25,000 per semester for police overtime to have a dedicated beat team assigned to the UWM neighborhood.

Instead of the Milwaukee police making a presence in the parts of the city that are truly out of control with crime, a strong presence is made in the UWM neighborhood.

While there is prostitution taking place on 43rd and Lisbon, murder happening at 10th and Cherry, and rape occurring on Juneau and Water, the Milwaukee Police Department, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee administration, and neighbors living around the university think that the most pressing and highest priority offenses that the city should worry about are noise violations and stolen yard signs around UWM.

If that isn't concrete evidence of UWM neighbor's "all about me" attitude, then I don't know what is.

Milwaukee has a number of major things to worry about, the least of which are your college student neighbors behaving like college students and your $5 yard signs that got stolen.

To the Milwaukee Police Department and UWM administration, I say get your priorities straight.

To the whiny neighbors living around UWM, I say, "Give me a break."

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