Kwame and Yvette Are Noise Bill Flip-Floppers! Councilmembers Kwame R. Brown and Yvette Alexander, both targeted by unions for their support of restrictions on amplified speech, have caved to the pressure. They have both indicated on the dais that they intend to vote for a pro-union amendment introduced by Ward 5's Harry Thomas Jr. that would restrict limits to residential areas only and would make those limits essentially meaningless---the threshold would be 80 decibels inside a home. Score a big win for John Boardman and the hotel workers' union, and a blemish on Ward 3 Councilmember Mary M. Cheh's "bona fide tear."