“Not every student still is aware about this (RPP). We need to continue to get the information out.” – Samantha Prahl, Student Association president

The public hearing for the Residential Preferred Parking bill was cancelled indefinitely on Sept. 11 because Ald. Michael D’Amato pulled his support the hearing, Student Association members said.

Gov. Jim Doyle signed the RPP legislation on the condition that only class-one cities would be covered by the law. Milwaukee is the only class-one city in the state that has a UW System school.

The RPP bill would remove 721 off-campus parking spaces normally used by students to give residents who live in the neighborhood surrounding the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee those spots. Proponents of the plan say that UWM has added the same amount of parking spaces on campus.

However, UWM has not replaced all of the spots designated for RPP. The Klotsche Pavilion now has 600 parking spaces, but originally had 300 before the construction. Kenilworth Square has parking spots but those are off-campus.

And the leases for the Bradford Beach and Northpoint Snack Bar UPark lots have not been renewed, giving UWM students fewer parking options.

SA Legislative Affairs Director Kyle Duerstein received a call Sept. 11 about the cancellation from the clerk of the Common Council Public Safety Committee and sent out an e-mail to fellow SA members.

SA members felt the cancellation was a blow to the hard work that went into the organization of students for the hearing. However, SA President Samantha Prahl said they still have the advantage of time to organize more students.

So far, students have sent 2,400 e-mails to the aldermen on the Common Council to extend their right to be heard about the RPP bill.

“Not every student still is aware about this (RPP). We need to continue to get the information out,” Prahl said.

D’Amato said he and other aldermen still need to fine tune how to run guest permits and which streets would be affected under implementation of the RPP bill in Milwaukee.

“The SA never contacted me directly about the hearing,” D’Amato said. “They just assumed that it was for Sept. 14.”

Prahl said that D’Amato and the Milwaukee Common Council had all summer to plan for the hearing.

D’Amato sent an e-mail to Jim Hill, interim vice chancellor of Student Affairs, in regard to Hill’s support for the students’ opposition of RPP.

“I will personally investigate how we can terminate or delay any necessary approvals that UWM requires from the city of Milwaukee,” D’Amato wrote in the e-mail.

A date for the rescheduled public hearing is undetermined at this point. Prahl said she fears it will be held in January when students will be away. D’Amato said he wants to have the hearing in October.

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