Madison Snow Removal Policy Makes Right Turn

The recent snowstorms revealed the weakness in the city of Madison's snow removal policies, particularly as it applies to alternative street parking. The Capital Times tells us Mayor dreaming of better snow cleanup. 

Good start.

The proposal  that allows downtown residents to have a longer window to park free in the city ramps is excellent but credit needs to be given to Alders Konkel, Rummel, and Rhodes-Conway who really pushed the idea two weeks ago, Call for Cleaning Up the Street Clean-Up Efforts

1. Downtown City ramps would be available free starting at 9:00 p.m. instead of 1:00 a.m. to ease the burden on downtown residents who already have very limited parking.
2. Madison Metro would be free, and bus routes would be given a higher priority for plowing to reduce the number of commuters using the clogged streets.

But also critical is having enough equipment on the streets. The city has not kept up, Do we need more plows? Yes we do. A better intial plowing with more equipment (and operators) will reduce the chaos that this month continued for weeks if narrow streets are freed of ice and snow quicker.

Another critical element of the new proposal is to increase fines for violating the alternate street parking ordinances.  Before anyone rushes to increase the fines, recall that the purpose is to get the cars off the streets, not issue more expensive parking tickets.

It will not be popular but the entire snow emergency zone needs review. The problem started (when I was mayor), when certain downtown alders wanted to end alternate street parking and go to the emergency zone system. The experiment did not work. It is time for review.

And there is a very good environmental reason why alternative street parking applies from November 15th to May 15th, a period longer than the snow season. It allows city street sweeping equipment to get right alongside the curb. This is critical in late fall before the snow comes and in the spring. It allows for the removal of the heavy metal, petroleum by-products and the organic matter to be swept away so they do not run down the storm sewers into the lakes.

Comments

[michael donnelly]

I'm all for alternate side parking all winter -- and while we're at it for a strict towing policy for folks who violate this rule when there's snow. The reason people have a problem with it is a basic lack of foresight. Too many people own cars but rent apartments without parking. "I need my car to get to work," they moan. Based on my experience, if you work first shift and live on the Isthmus, odds are pretty good that Madison Metro will work for you. But even if it won't, I believe you have a responsibility to make sure you'll have somewhere to put your car. Parking isn't a right.

[kris]

Alternate side parking on the isthmus from May-November is only for one day a week and is only from 8-11:30 am, so it's not at all comparable to winter alternate side parking. I don't think we need to get rid of the Snow Emergency Zone downtown, we just actually need to aggressively enforce it with towing, plowing and possibly pushing the timing so that it lasts long enough in the morning for the plows to actually go through.