La Crosse needs to fix snow emergency rules before declaring another

Usually when something doesn’t work, you try another way. Not so with snow emergencies declared by the city of La Crosse. Earlier this month, perhaps for the first time, La Crosse declared a snow emergency. That means people have to move their cars to make way for snow plows. Unlike the typical alternate side parking, drivers need to move their cars not just overnight, but for 24 hours, parking on the even side of the street on even numbered says, and vice-versa. That didn’t work, as few people complied with the order. Police wrote more than 300 warnings to people who didn’t move their cars in just a four hour period, even though the snow plows were never sent out to clean up from that storm. The city promised to work on clarifying the snow emergency rules, perhaps even considering adopting snow emergency rules over the traditional alternate side parking next winter, meaning we would only have to move our cars when we are told. But before those rules could be rewritten, Mother Nature struck again. But even though clearly there is confusion about snow emergency rules, La Crosse again instituted a snow emergency, meaning drivers have to avoid one side of the street for a full 24 hours. That order is in place until this afternoon. You’d think city hall would have learned its lesson the first time. They need to go back to the drawing board to clarify just how to comply with snow emergency declarations before declaring another one.