Council committee tonight considers changes to two hour parking

Rule changes are mostly clarifications.

Adjustments to rules on parking for La Crosse’s downtown have stoked concerns from some who use downtown streets to park.

At a meeting tonight, a city council committee could hear some of those concerns.

The rule changes seek to clarify, among other things, what it means to park on a “block face” for two free hours.

Police say parts of the parking rules, as currently written, are not enforceable. 

The changes come amid revelations that the city is owed over $355,000 in unpaid parking tickets for just the last three years.

Police have requested vehicle registration suspensions from the DMV related to those unpaid fines.  

Police also say new technology will make better enforcement of two-hour parking rules easier.

The new rules also make clear that you can essentially park once along a block during an entire 24 hour period.

The adjustments come as the city prepares to go online on Aug. 1 with a much more automated parking system in the city’s ramps.

The city’s parking utility coordinator has also confirmed that a downtown business group has begun expressing interest in removing free parking altogether and returning to a paid parking system on the streets.