City doing it wrong with snow emergency declarations

There is a way to make this work. But this isn’t it. The city of La Crosse has declared a snow emergency, or as they call it, a snow disposal period, for the third time this month. Presumably that is because with alternate side parking season over, and Mother Nature still blanketing us with snow, cars need to be moved to make way for snow plows. But compliance has been poor, with many simply ignoring the orders. That isn’t surprising, because this whole directive is a mess. The city should only declare a snow emergency if it is actually going to send out the plows, which it did not during the previous declarations. The city’s order is also confusing. We are told to park only on the even side of the street on even numbered days for 24 hours, except for an exemption from 9pm to midnight when we are supposed to move our cars. In order for compliance to improve, the city needs to have people sign up to receive a text to alert them to the snow emergency. While compliance is poor, that may be ok with La Crosse police, seemingly eager to maintain current alternate side parking rules. The city will consider doing away with alternate side parking in favor of snow emergencies, meaning we would only have to move our cars when we are told rather than every night for months. But it also means less revenue for La Crosse police, who could point to the poor compliance during these April declarations as a reason to keep alternate side parking in place. Snow emergencies work in other cities, and it can work in La Crosse too. But first City hall needs to get on the same page, and deliver a consistent easy to understand message for that to happen.