East Lansing officials plan on making some significant changes to the way the city handles celebrations and disturbances, such as last April 2-3.

And many of the changes sound good.

Now get to work.

The council has about two months until the college basketball finals, which seems to be when most celebrations take place at MSU.

Out of the 29 recommendations made by the independent commission, which reviewed the April 2-3 disturbances, the council is considering about 28. However, some are still being looked at.

Many of the changes, such as making police officers easily identifiable, don't require a lot of effort or money.

But some, such as deciding whether to have a university-sponsored celebratory event, are going to take time to develop.

So if the city is going to do this, they must plan it soon.

Many of the suggestions would benefit students when they congregate in large crowds. Making sure police officers wear a number so they're identifiable, having announcements for students to disband that are louder and more frequent and using tear gas as a last resort are all great ideas — providing something does happen.

There are also several suggestions to have more communication between students and the community, so a better relationship can be formed.

But it seems a little odd that City Council needs to adopt a recommendation to make communicating a priority.

East Lansing police Chief Tom Wibert wants police to appear "softer" this year and make sure using riot gear is absolutely necessary.

Wibert, who became police chief after last year's disturbances, seems committed to making sure things are different this year.

There are some suggestions, however, that seem as though they would be ineffective — even wrong.

Having police officers in street clothes going into a crowd to pinpoint "troublemakers" seems great in theory, but isn't the whole point of having officers wear numbers so people can identify them? Students might be able to identify faces of officers, but it still negates one recommendation.

Sending arrest records of non-MSU students to their respective schools is overkill.

Although disruptive people who come to East Lansing to party are certainly annoying, what one does outside of school shouldn't be sent back to their college. It's none of that school's business to know what students are doing out of town.

And one of the most ludicrous recommendations is to have MSU foot part of the bill if any damages occur during a disturbance or riot.

Unless a riot or disturbance happens on campus or involves campus police, MSU shouldn't have to pay just because some of its students were at the wrong place at the wrong time. MSU is in East Lansing — the city should pay for what happens in the city.

Overall, it's nice to see positive steps being taken to make sure both police officers and students behave more appropriately when they celebrate. The City Council and police department have promised to make these changes for awhile.

So go ahead. Let's see it.