City issues 2,625 warnings, now enforcing alternate-side parking

Weather forecast sunny and in the high 60s through next week

One La Crosse city council member’s criticism of alternate side parking continues, as police announced Wednesday it had issued around 2,625 warnings the first two days of the rule.

Alternate-side parking began Nov. 1 and police issued warnings the first two days. Now, it says the citations have begun.

City council member Gary Padesky isn’t shying away from his criticism of what he calls an unnecessary hardship in the city’s enforcement of alternate-side parking before the weather gets bad. The forecast for the next week calls for temperatures in the high 60s and not a cloud in the sky.

“The last few snowfalls last year,” Padesky said, “they really didn’t plow anyway, because it was going to warm up that day and they knew it was going to be melted within a few days, if not a day.”

He also says the rules disproportionately impact certain parts of the population.

“A lot of those people,” he said, “they’re students, they’re working, they’re bartending. Maybe they get home at 2 in the morning, they’re tired, they park their car, they run in the house. When they come out, there’s a ticket.”

Padesky proposal to shrink the alternate-side parking enforcement period was barely defeated by the city council this past spring.

He says he’s unsure of whether he’ll reintroduce the idea in the future.