It seems that if city leaders could have their way, all of East Lansing would be like a scene out of the "Twilight Zone" or "Pleasantville" - eerily quiet and nuclear.

On Tuesday, city officials presented the East Lansing City Council with several plans to reduce noise violations, highlighted by ideas of a Responsible Landlord Council and quiet zones in the city. The suggestions will be forwarded to several campus and city organizations for review and discussion before the Nov. 26 council meeting.

The topic was raised this semester after East Lansing police reported a 36-percent increase in noise violations in the first four weeks of school as compared with last year.

There also was discussion Tuesday of distributing a community standards handbook for students and their parents, and the creation of a measure that would reprimand city residents who stray from "acceptable behavior" outlined in the handbook.

City council is blowing the noise issue out of proportion and beginning to seem very childish. Yes, noise problems in East Lansing should be addressed, but not in the way the council is doing it.

Sanctioning quiet zones and looking for babysitters for students is not the answer that will help mend the problem - such tactics will only serve to make things worse as more tickets are issued.

The city has established rental properties that are notorious for repeated noise complaints, which allows police to increase fines for violations and initiate enforcement action without a citizen complaint.

While parties and activities at students' houses can get out of hand, the answer is not to add more rules and restrictions. Landlords cannot be expected to watch over their tenants 24 hours a day. And they cannot control them, or the parties they might have.

Tenants should be held accountable if they are found not to be respectful of their neighbors.

The council needs to face the reality that East Lansing is a college town and has college-town problems to deal with. Turning a city into a elementary school with childish rules is not the way to address those problems.

There are better solutions than creating quiet zones, which would only increase the chances for fines to be issued to student residents. If the city thinks students are loud now, they should be wary of finding ways to make them angry. Chances are things could turn unfavorably loud in other ways.

Creating tension is not the way to communicate a need for neighborly respect, which seems to be a goal everyone could live with.

Kevin Glandon, director of community affairs for MSU's undergraduate student government, suggested the city work on the Spartan Community Expectations initiative with ASMSU to educate freshmen immediately upon entering MSU about what is unacceptable behavior in East Lansing.

The city's leaders should work with students to create a better living environment within the city, not against them. Education is perhaps one of the best ways to do that.

The role of leadership falls on the city council. Its responsibility is to set the tone of the city, and it is up to the students to respect that, so long as the tone is not that of a foe.