Instead of improving conditions for commuters, D’Amato is attempting to make matters worse by eliminating 721 parking spots.

The parking problem is a difficult debate among residents, commuters and faculty.

I understand each side as I currently commute and will be a resident soon. What I cannot understand is the police and their $30 citations.

We all know the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee area is draped in parking restrictions. I believe these signs are the devices of capitalism. The parking police are tax collectors.

Who can be serious with the half-hour parking signs located just outside of the inner ring of coin-operated meters? These signs are signs of inevitable revenue.

We do not need to have potential parking tickets on our minds as we attempt to digest whatever the professor just revealed. I receive no bigger joy than returning to my car after back-to-back lectures and notice a ticket on my windshield.

Am I suppose to skip out of the end of each class, drive around and find another spot, and then dash to my next class? This seems like a perpetual cycle that would only spiral downward.

I have no other option than parking in a two-hour spot and rolling the proverbial dice. There are no three-hour parking areas and I have to be at my job afterward, which negates any time consuming park and ride. It’s all the more frustrating when I park well east of Downer Avenue on a street that is empty and yet I still receive a citation.

Students do not have a bottomless petty cash fund that can be applied to parking tickets. Milwaukee must help UWM expound upon its status as a commuter school.

It could be that lengthening the stingy hourly parking limits would help. If one thing is for certain, it is that the current process seems geared towards collecting money.

The City of Milwaukee Web site does not offer any information to the contrary. In fact, it confirms my assertions because the top news on the site is the installation of automated payment centers at three district stations.

Every story on the site is somehow related to you giving them money. In some cases it is money you might not have with their ability to take credit cards.

The city can help out the parking problem at UWM. However, instead of improving conditions for commuters, Third District Ald. Michael D’Amato is attempting to make matters worse by eliminating 721 parking spots.

Most exasperating is the fact that it does not make sense for them to help. The parking ticket has been a long-standing member of the budget. The police plan on x amount of dollars from parking tickets each year. So the money from parking tickets cannot be applied to finding a solution.

The actions of D’Amato and the like show that if anything they are trying to pump more money out of this well. It honestly feels like one big trap.

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