Before off-campus students head out dressed in disguise tonight, they should stop to think about where their car is parked.

Beginning at midnight, calendar-parking regulations will take effect in Eau Claire.

Every year between Nov. 1 and May 1, all vehicles must park on a certain side of the street, depending on the date, according to city ordinance.

“If you have cars parked on each side, it becomes almost impossible to get emergency vehicles of any kind down the street, let alone day-to-day traffic,” said Jack Corey, community relations officer for the Eau Claire Police Department.

To facilitate movement of traffic and allow for snowplows to have space on the road, students must obey the following rules outlined by the city police.

On odd-numbered days, between midnight and 7 a.m., vehicles must only park or stop on the side of the street with odd-numbered addresses. On even-numbered days, between midnight and 7 a.m., vehicles must only park or stop on the side of the street with even-numbered addresses.

“The trick is getting the ordinance down,” Corey said. “The confusion comes in when you park your car. You have to think what the date will be at midnight.”

With it becoming Nov. 1 – an odd number day – at midnight, students should park on the odd-numbered addresses side of the street, he said.

Junior Rob Lenio, a First Avenue resident, said he doesn’t understand why the ordinance begins so early.

“I think it should start with the first snow,” said Lenio, who added that last year it didn’t snow until around Christmas. “Once it snows, it’s important that you keep the streets wide enough to have two lanes, though.”

There will be a one- to two-week grace period when warnings will be given to cars parked on the wrong side of the street, Corey said.

After the grace period, cars violating the ordinance will receive a ticket with a $15 fine.

“We are pretty easy to work with,” Corey said. “We dismiss a lot of tickets based on reasonableness, but if it is a legit ticket, we’re not going to dismiss that.”

Students who have cars that won’t start should notify Eau Claire Police that their car will be parked on the wrong side of the street, Corey said.

Students who simply forget to move their cars will not get out of tickets.

“You can expect them to be kind of unforgiving,” Lenio said of the city. “If you don’t enforce it, no one is going to obey it.”

The ordinance, Corey said, does not supersede other more restrictive parking regulations in effect in the city.