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As I See It

E-Scooters likely coming, but will La Crosse be ready?

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Like many cities its size, La Crosse can be unprepared for sudden change. Things that have become common elsewhere, in bigger cities, eventually make their way here. La Crosse suddenly has Uber and Lyft services to serve the area. You can rent segways to navigate the downtown. Suddenly food trucks seem to be everywhere. Of course, whenever these new services come to town, La Crosse is left scrambling to come up with regulations. The segways led to new ordinances regulating the use of sidewalks. The city is still trying to figure out just how far food trucks can set up shop from a competing restaurant. Well here’s  a news flash. E-scooters are a thing. I just got back from a weekend in Milwaukee, where, like in many big cities, people can grab a scooter anywhere on the street, swipe their card, and ride by the minute. Then they leave it wherever they are when they are done. During a recent trip to Nashville, I saw the scooters everywhere, on streets and on sidewalks. They zoom in and out of cars and pedestrians. La Crosse should prepare for the likelihood scooters will become a thing here too, and draft regulations now. Future street planning could even consider the need to accommodate scooters. As we’ve seen with ride-sharing services and food trucks, they’re probably coming and it makes sense to be ready, rather than scrambling to figure out how to deal with them when they are already here.

Scott Robert Shaw serves as WIZM Program Director and News Director, and delivers the morning news on WKTY, Z-93 and 95.7 The Rock. Scott has been at Mid-West Family La Crosse since 1989, and authors Wisconsin's only daily radio editorial, "As I See It" heard on WIZM each weekday morning and afternoon.

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