Molly Tumanic

In a close vote, the Eau Claire City Council decided Tuesday to deny a daytime parking ban on two residential blocks near campus.

A petition submitted to the council from residents of the 300 and 400 blocks of Roosevelt Avenue sought to eliminate the 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. two-hour parking on the even side of the street.

Six of the 11 council members needed to vote for the ban for it to pass. The vote came to 5-5 with one member missing from the meeting.

Sophomore Angela Hase parked her car on Roosevelt Avenue Wednesday afternoon before class.

She said she heard residents were trying to limit parking around campus and she’s glad the council voted down the daytime parking ban on Roosevelt Avenue.

Keith Hanson, a resident of the 400 block of Roosevelt Avenue, said the message of the petition got lost among the politics people attached to it.

“We’re concerned about the safety of our kids in our neighborhood,” he said. “It’s never been about the students; it’s been about safety in the neighborhood, and that whole issue has been drowned.”

Hanson has two grade-school aged children and he said he would like to allow them to play in their driveway or street more often. But Hanson fears they would get hurt by traffic or someone pulling into their driveway to maneuver for a parking spot.

“I could care less if people park in front of my house,” he said.

Hanson said he hopes Chancellor Donald Mash gets involved to look for solutions to the parking problem.

“If he’s aware of these problems, what’s he going to do about them?” he said.

Roosevelt Avenue stays open, Bartlett Court closes

While the Roosevelt Avenue ban failed, the council approved a separate daytime parking ban.

On the Roosevelt ban, council members Howard White, Ray Hughes, Terry Sheridan, Saidang Xiong and Berlye Middleton voted against the daytime ban. Members Terri Stanley, Toby Biegel, Bob Von Haden, David Adler and Dallas Neville voted for the ban. Council member Jane Tappen did not attend Tuesday’s meeting.

The original petition suggested parking should be prohibited completely on both sides of the street. After public discussion and confusion over if the residents wanted complete prohibition or a daytime parking ban, the council delayed its decision Feb. 10 until Tuesday’s meeting.

An updated petition from the residents stated parking should be prohibited from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, excluding holidays.

“This has really become an emotional issue for all of us,” Adler said during debate on the Roosevelt petition.

While Adler said he “sat on the fence” during discussion, later when the clerk called roll call, he paused and said “yay.”

“The people are frustrated,” Stanley said. “They’ve asked the university for help for years.”

Stanley said approving parking restrictions in the Third Ward would have given the impetus to make the university get more involved in the parking problem.

“All of a sudden, it has become the university’s problem,” she said.

Biegel agreed that the university should help address the parking situation in the Third Ward.