New resident needs help figuring out the parking here! (Milwaukee: apartment, rent)

[mhazelm]

Hi,

So I am moving into a house in Milwaukee on Sunday. It's in a nice location near North Ave. and east of Farwell/Prospect.

I am very, very confused about parking here for the residents of this neighborhood. The house I am moving into does not have parking, and I will have to park on the street. Via the city's parking info online it appears that I need a nighttime permit, so I went and bought one when I got my WI license plates. Now I am confused about daytime parking. I think the street I'll be living on only has 1 hour parking during the day. Can't I buy one of the "Residential Nonconforming daytime" permits (it's a really old house from the 1890s - there isn't even a driveway)?

When I bought my night parking permit a police officer at the station told me that there is no such thing as a daytime permit and that I'd have to move my car every hour! I'll be working about 1.5 miles away and plan to take the bus/bike; I can't come home to move my car every hour of the day! What's the deal? How do I park during the daytime? (Maybe there are daytime permits, just not available at the police district I was at? I went to one kind of far out of the city because it was near where I'm temporarily staying). If that really is the way it is, how can I find a long-term parking garage kind of deal where I could leave my car 24/7 (in that neighborhood)? All I have seen for parking on craigslist and such are too far away from the house to be easily done. Help!

PS: With my night permit can I only park on the street with my house, or can I park on other Milwaukee streets at night as well? It's still sketchy to me as to how this works.

[Milwaukee City]

You may just have park a block or two or three away. Some areas of the city have a 1-2hr limit but are never checked and then their are areas that have timed parking and it seems like they have a parking checker just watching that block.

Park Milwaukee

[Milwaukee City]

It looks like the one hour parking or two hour parking limits are only between certain hours, also you can park in loading zones as along as the sign says "between the hours of".

[Nuclear_Art]

Always read the parking signs carefully. The east side has plenty of various restrictions which you need to be aware of and unfortunately you are very unlucky not to have a driveway. You have a few options. Ditch the car. Get familiar with the neighborhood and find the places where you can park the car without restrictions. Rent parking.

The last option might be best. Then you don't need to buy a sticker for night parking. I know there are people in my neighborhood that rent parking in neighbor's garages. It's just a fact of life. Parking on the street just plain sucks in that area. You still will have to move it once every 24 hours or face a ticket. During street sweeping you can risk getting towed. During snow storms you can risk getting towed.

[karfar]

Originally Posted by mhazelm

Hi,

So I am moving into a house in Milwaukee on Sunday. It's in a nice location near North Ave. and east of Farwell/Prospect.

I am very, very confused about parking here for the residents of this neighborhood. The house I am moving into does not have parking, and I will have to park on the street. Via the city's parking info online it appears that I need a nighttime permit, so I went and bought one when I got my WI license plates. Now I am confused about daytime parking. I think the street I'll be living on only has 1 hour parking during the day. Can't I buy one of the "Residential Nonconforming daytime" permits (it's a really old house from the 1890s - there isn't even a driveway)?

When I bought my night parking permit a police officer at the station told me that there is no such thing as a daytime permit and that I'd have to move my car every hour! I'll be working about 1.5 miles away and plan to take the bus/bike; I can't come home to move my car every hour of the day! What's the deal? How do I park during the daytime? (Maybe there are daytime permits, just not available at the police district I was at? I went to one kind of far out of the city because it was near where I'm temporarily staying). If that really is the way it is, how can I find a long-term parking garage kind of deal where I could leave my car 24/7 (in that neighborhood)? All I have seen for parking on craigslist and such are too far away from the house to be easily done. Help!

PS: With my night permit can I only park on the street with my house, or can I park on other Milwaukee streets at night as well? It's still sketchy to me as to how this works.

I have a night parking permit & I've NEVER gotten a ticket while parking on any of the streets during the day, even when it says 2 hr. parking. I wouldn't worry about it if I were you. And yes, w/that permit you can park anywhere, not just where you live. Parking on the east side is a general nightmare, however you're east of Farwell which I think you may have an easier time parking in that area. That cop telling you to move your car every hour is a moron, who would seriously do that??? Just make sure you're parked on the correct side of the street each day & you should be golden. In the winter, it's going to be worse. Really watch the winter restrictions. From March to I think November, you don't have to worry really.

[caieva]

If you park somewhere illegal where someone notices - like a loading zone or a two hour spot in front of a small business - then they'll certainly call the police and you will get a ticket. Otherwise, it's random - they don't ticket all the time but you can't expect to never get one.
In general those 2 hour zones are by areas shoppers come to all day long, so people aren't supposed to "hog" them as it were, which I know seems weird when you live there!
I would think they figure if you live there and own a car you'll be taking it to work anyway.
Good luck - I would bet next year you'll be renting a place with a dedicated spot in the drive or better yet the garage because it will be a constant struggle!

[jenj]

I've lived on the East Side (Prospect/Brady) since February and you will get ticketed! I also got a night parking permit thinking that was the only thing that I could get and got $100 in daytime parking tickets between 2 months parking on Prospect (and yes, I did park legally: not in front of buisnesses or in loading zones, I actually got one ticket parked right in front of my apartment building). They ABSOLUTELY will ticket you if stay in the 2hr parking, probably not every day, but it does happen often. I see the parking Nazi's outside my window almost every day.

Anyway, there IS such a thing as a daytime permit. Go to the Police Station (your district should be the same is mine) 749 W. State Street 2nd Floor. Milwaukee, WI 53233 and when you get to the parking office tell them that you need daytime parking because it's not provided where you live (I'm also assuming that you do in fact qualify) and they'll ask you for your address. They have cards made out for address in the area that do qualify for daytime parking so if they find the card with your address you're golden. It's only $10 a year, and it really saves on those gosh darn expensive parking tickets!!!!

[Murderwaukee]

Just get rid of the car and get a 2009 Ruckus - Honda Powersports Honda Ruckus that's what my daughter did. Other wise she rides the bus or good old Dad or Mom goes to get her . We gave up after her car was vandalized 3x's and we had to play dig out the car in winter .

[43north87west]

Originally Posted by mhazelm

Hi,

So I am moving into a house in Milwaukee on Sunday. It's in a nice location near North Ave. and east of Farwell/Prospect.

I am very, very confused about parking here for the residents of this neighborhood. The house I am moving into does not have parking, and I will have to park on the street. Via the city's parking info online it appears that I need a nighttime permit, so I went and bought one when I got my WI license plates. Now I am confused about daytime parking. I think the street I'll be living on only has 1 hour parking during the day. Can't I buy one of the "Residential Nonconforming daytime" permits (it's a really old house from the 1890s - there isn't even a driveway)?

When I bought my night parking permit a police officer at the station told me that there is no such thing as a daytime permit and that I'd have to move my car every hour! I'll be working about 1.5 miles away and plan to take the bus/bike; I can't come home to move my car every hour of the day! What's the deal? How do I park during the daytime? (Maybe there are daytime permits, just not available at the police district I was at? I went to one kind of far out of the city because it was near where I'm temporarily staying). If that really is the way it is, how can I find a long-term parking garage kind of deal where I could leave my car 24/7 (in that neighborhood)? All I have seen for parking on craigslist and such are too far away from the house to be easily done. Help!

PS: With my night permit can I only park on the street with my house, or can I park on other Milwaukee streets at night as well? It's still sketchy to me as to how this works.

You can park legally on the city streets with your night parking permit. Make sure you check online (or on the signs) for the specific regulations for the street on which you are going to park. They are broken down by street online, which is handy.

First, there are nonconforming permits available.

Commuter Impacted Parking District: A Guide

As of, I believe, 7/11/2009, you must go to the downtown police station to apply for these. In your neighborhood you should be able to get one. Once you get one, make a FULL COLOR COPY of it because they're not re-issued if lost or stolen.


Next, the issue of tickets. You will get them. Parking checkers on the East Side are like flies on ****. Don't pay two tickets and your car gets towed. Ask me how I know. Also, I'll take a little time to explain HOW you might accrue tickets and not know about it:

Certain underperforming (and unscrupulous) parking checkers issue tickets to legally parked vehicles, and "forget" to put the paper ticket on your car. By the time you get notified that you have a two-month-old parking ticket, you'll think that you were illegally parked and the ticket probably fell off your car or whatever. Of course, you won't bother challenging the ticket, because you will probably think that you were parked illegally (somehow), and pay your fifty bucks. Try remembering where you left your car two months prior. I don't think the parking checkers use chalk anymore, so the old "steal a parking ticket from another car" trick doesn't work anymore, so it's unlikely that a ticket was borrowed to make another car look like it already got one. The parking checker just issues another one and another one after that.

The worst issues are on the East Side where the problem is twice as bad as anywhere else. Parking checkers check other areas of the city, but concentrate around the high density areas like Marquette, downtown, and UWM.

Although it's frustrating, life in the city of Milwaukee includes having to put up with this BS. I think Milwaukee emulates Chicago when it comes to parking. After a couple of headaches I stopped leaving my car on the street.