Neighbors may need more information on parking pilot program

A whole lot of ‘maybes’ around a paid, on-street parking pilot program going into place in a couple of neighborhoods in La Crosse.

• Maybe it will generate revenue to offset costs.
• Maybe it will remove some college student cars from the streets.
• Maybe fire trucks will better be able to get down some streets during an emergency.
• Maybe it will all go well for those who live in the affected neighborhoods, like Grandview Emerson Neighborhood Association (GENA).

“Clearly, parking has been a long-term problem in our neighborhood,” Nora Garland, co-chair of GENA. “I understand that idea of demand parking and the fact that the higher it costs to park close to campus is probably in our benefit.”

Garland says she’d like City Hall to provide more information to neighbors about the pilot program set to go into place soon around the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and Western Technical College.

“I don’t know that we even have concerns as much as we just need to be better informed,” she said.

Garland’s neighborhood has often been the source of complaints about UW-L students clogging residential streets with parking.

The city is pushing ahead with plans to start the parking pilot, despite complaints that the program unfairly targets students.