The number of UPasses given out has risen to 14,800, up 1,300 from this time last year -UWM Parking and Transit office.

810 citations totaling $24,300 were given out for the first week of Residential Preferred Parking, said Cecilia Gilbert, spokeswoman for the Milwaukee Department of Public Works.

The east side program, RPP, started Sept. 4 and allows only residents to park on certain streets from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. The free permit is limited at two per household and is only for use on the side of the street designated for residential parking.

The aim of the program is to clear commuters away from the residential apartments, giving apartment owners space to park. But Milwaukee’s District Five Police Department has received numerous complaints about the $30 citations from students, saying they were not properly informed about the program. The District Five Police Department only issues the permits to residents and does not enforce or process the tickets.

A few weeks before school started, the Milwaukee Department of Public Works placed leaflets on cars parked in the designated areas attempting to inform residents about the RPP program. But this was before many of the students had arrived in Milwaukee for the start of the fall term.

When the first week of the semester came around, 810 citations were given out from Sep.4-9, said Cecilia Gilbert, spokeswoman for the Department of Public Works.

Issuing and processing the new RPP tickets is done by the regular parking checkers and is the same system used for numerous other parking violations. “We haven’t gotten any complaints about it,” said Gilbert. “The tickets for the RPP program are no different than tickets for street sweeping.”

Students who are feeling the 721 parking space decrease from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee campus are generally opposed to the new RPP program, but open to finding alternative methods of transportation.

One student commuter knew about the RPP parking program since early last May and tries to arrive at least 20 minutes or more before class to account for all of the traffic to the Klotsche Pavilion.

“Now it has gotten worse since everyone now parks here,” said the commuter, commenting on the cluttered Klotsche Pavilion on a rushed Tuesday morning before class. “I’m always late.”

The Klotsche Center Pavilion has experienced parking averaging 95 percent full this year, according to the UWM Transit Director Claude Schuetty. Last semester it was estimated that the Pavilion was only half full.

Frank Blinkew, a commuter student from Brookfield, wasn’t aware of the new RPP parking regulations around campus. “Parking is more difficult now than last year,” said Blinkew. “If it is raining or bad weather, parking sucks.”

Other UWM students from Milwaukee seek out alternative options to avoid the complication of parking. The UPass is widely used by students and an easy way around parking closer to campus. The number of UPasses given out has risen to 14,800, up 1,300 from this time last year, according to the UWM Parking and Transit office.

UWM student Ingra Anderson is one of those who take advantage of the UPass on heavy class days. She does not find parking to be a problem when she chooses to drive on her lighter days. “UPass is awesome, it works,” said Anderson, in response to how to beat the onslaught of traffic during the afternoon rush.

Students living in apartments where the RPP program has recently taken effect found a bit of relief to their own parking woes and have experienced a gradual decrease of commuter parking toward the area.

Sophomore Alyssa Bau noticed the cluttered parking last year around campus during her freshman year at the dorms.

“It’s a lot better than it used to be,” said Bau in response to curb side parking this year near her apartment on North Farwell Avenue.

After the first week of the semester has been successfully timed out like an expired parking meter, parking around Bau’s apartment seemed to be improving. “A lot of people must have been getting tickets,” said Bau.

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