Yesterday's post was about the problems I see with the Village of Shorewood's off-street parking program. By way of illustration, I offer this story sent to me by a friend of mine and former Shorewood renter.
From Julie:
"I decided that I would rather pay $3.00/night for on-street parking than paying for the priveledge to park far away and put myself in danger at night. This meant that I had to drive to the police station in Shorewood every weekday night, give my address, license plate #, and pay my $3.00. I asked the people in the police dept. and at city hall: "Why doesn't the city of Shorewood allow on-street parking and have people pay monthly and/or use parking stickers instead of making residents physically go to the police station every night?" The answer was that city government had voted on this parking rule and listened to the home owners, who evidently didn't want cars on their streets, period.
Now that I am away from my parking experience in Shorewood and my emotions have cooled, I'm still at a loss for how a community government would punish its citizens who have no other option but to park on the street, if they care about their safety. I believe that renters are treated as second-class citizens in Shorewood, and the likely affect is higher turnover of renters, contributing to less stability in the neighborhoods. "
