Taking on La Crosse’s winter alternate-side parking … again

Right now, rule set between Nov. 1-April 1. 

Some city council members are taking on alternate-side parking in La Crosse.

As of now the city enforces “winter” parking between Nov. 1-April 1.

But a couple of city council members, including Patrick Brever, who represents the largely college area around the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, have introduced a plant to cut a month off that enforcement period.

“The number of tickets accessed is disproportionate to students and those living in older neighborhoods,” Brever said. “I think, if we’re gonna pick up this extra revenue from parking, it should be more across the board.”

Brever called the rule as it is now mostly unfair, as college students are often targeted primarily because the street is the only place to park.

“Students, obviously,” Brever said, “with student loan debt and other expenses to pay, they’re not going tp want to park on campus, which is going to cost them an arm and a leg to do.”

The proposal, which narrowly failed during a council vote last year, would cut two weeks off the beginning and two weeks off the end of the current five-month, alternate-side-parking period.

“This is a good start, however,” Brever said, “having a policy in place that waits until the first snowfall of the year, as opposed to having a set date, may be better.”

The exact dates for enforcement under the new proposal would fall between Nov. 15-March 15.