Downtown Parking Woes Worry Waukesha Business Owner

WAUKESHA, WI — Summer brings more business downtown, but one local business owner said she's just about had enough of Downtown Waukesha's parking woes.

There's nowhere for people to park downtown," Megan David, owner of Otto's Art Gallery downtown, said. "Instead of coming down walking around shopping and eating, they're stopping and then leaving the area and going to Target. It's hard to deal with the negative customer comments."

David, a downtown business owner since 2004, runs an art school that hosts classes year-round in addition to summer camps for children, said it's been difficult for herself as a business owner and for her customers, who want to drop off children and stay awhile to shop.

"Many of my clients are receiving parking tickets on a weekly basis and I'm receiving one or two a week," she said. "I'm so frustrated. Last saturday. I had two staff and two parents get ticketed. Me and another staff girl were five minutes over, and we both got tickets. It's pretty extreme to me."

She said she's went into the police station and reached out to alderman Aaron Perry regarding the parking issues, but she said something needs to be done to either alleviate the seemingly prompt parking fines or the congested spaces, which are un-metered two and three-hour spaces.

In a conversation Waukesha Patch had with Alderman Aaron Perry, the alderman stated the city is happy to work with a business owner such as David over her parking woes. Perry went on to say that in most cases, there are adequate spaces downtown during the week, and that a number of parking lots, including the Brook Street ramp, Madison Street parking lot and Clock Tower lot across the river have spaces available.

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patch.com file photo