Alternate-side parking won’t change in La Crosse

Council narrowly rejects plans to cut month from parking period

A plea for common sense hasn’t swayed the majority of the city council to change when alternate side parking gets enforced.

Council member Gary Padesky had described enforcement of the parking ordinance as a “money grab” in arguing for lopping off a month from the winter parking period.  He urged his colleagues to cut off those weeks that are typically warm and sunny in late March and early November.

Nothing doin.’

Some council members argued that alternate side parking help emergency vehicles get through crowded streets after a heavy snowfall.  Others maintained the city needs the revenue from enforcement to help balance the books.

“The fees that were generated in 2015, 2016, basically we paid for one half a position of a police officer, probably one position in the street dept.,” councilman Fran Formanek said. 

“By that logic, what we should be doing is making alt side parking 365 days a year, because we can make a hell of a lot of money doing that,” council member Martin Gaul retorted.

The council voted down the proposal on a 9-7 margin Thursday night.