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Preferred parking passed by Barrett
Move means spaces around UWM campus will be fewer
By Ryan Cardarella
The controversial Residential Preferred Parking bill was signed into law by Mayor Tom Barrett on Dec. 20 and will result in the loss of 721 parking spaces for University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee students effective as soon as April 1.
The bill will designate one side of many campus streets currently used by students commuting to class for residents only. Permits will be issued and violators will be ticketed or towed. The affected areas are highlighted by the map attached.
The Student Association had been lobbying for Barrett to veto the proposed bill, citing the already chaotic and congested parking situation on campus.
In a letter written to the mayor, SA Sen. Russel Scott stressed the potential accessibility problem facing the university, with so many commuters traveling daily to and from campus.
“The impact of pushing public street parking into parking structures would be a catastrophe, dangerously reaching over capacity, and harming access to the university,” Scott said.
However, Barrett sees the RPP bill as a compromise struck to maintain a balance between students and area residents in the competitive parking situation surrounding our campus.
“It was essential to recognize the needs of local residents for dedicated parking areas. It is to the credit of these sometimes disparate interests that each was able to acknowledge the needs of the others, and arrive at a workable compromise resulting in this ordinance,” Barrett said.
With few alternatives remaining to prevent or stall the RPP legislation, opponents of the act are shifting their collective focus toward the implementation of Residential Preferred Parking.
“We are going to make sure that the implementation (of RPP) goes smoothly and will be working to get the word out to students,” said SA Director of Legislative Affairs Kyle Duerstein.
Duerstein also said that efforts would be made to try and delay the implementation of RPP until the beginning of the 2007-’08 school year so that it would not be enacted mid-semester as currently scheduled.
“We are concerned with the educational process of RPP right now and want to avoid massive ticketing of students who may not know the law.” Scott said.
The SA Senate is also exploring the possibility of acquiring additional U-Park lots to offset RPP losses, with options of either adding additional spots at the Capitol/Humboldt lots or purchasing spots at the Summerfest Grounds. Those talks are preliminary at this time however.
With the ordinance passing, UWM students may need to rethink their commuting habits in the future. Taking the bus to class or carpooling with classmates may be necessary to alleviate further problems and deal with the massive street parking losses.
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