Mayor not enthusiastic about changing La Crosse’s alternate-side parking

City council will discuss at next meeting, regardless

La Crosse mayor Tim Kabat is less than enthusiastic about changing the city’s alternate-side parking rules.  

A proposal getting a vote by the city council this week would cut La Crosse’s five-month winter alternate-side parking season by a month.

It’s something nice to talk about it, says Kabat, but this change probably isn’t the right one.

“If we can come up with a better system, that has less impact for people with tickets, let’s do that,” Kabat said. “Up to this point, we’ve not been able to come up with that system, but we’re all ears to do that, if we can come up with a better way.”

“As far as lopping off two weeks at the end and two weeks at the beginning, I think there are a couple communities that have a similar type of arrangement. We could still get snow in April. As far as I’m concerned, if it’s not broke, why fix it?”

City council member Gary Padesky says having the law in place during dry and warm times during the fall and spring amounts to a city hall “money grab.”

Yet, there’s still plenty of snow on the streets in spring and, even if there wasn’t, alternate-side parking does have other uses after the snow has stopped.

“After you get the snow season done and you have a bunch of sand and salt on the road, to get the street sweepers out there and get things cleaned up,” Kabat said.

Kabat seems to prefer the status quo, but sees nothing wrong with having a discussion within the city council.

“It’s good to examine these types of rules, right?” Kabat asked. “Because, the thing that irks people the most, is when you start to have conversations, and the answer is, ‘Well that’s the way we’ve always done it.'”