Good news for residents of eastern Downtown. On Tuesday, the Common Council voted to allow residents of the area bounded by Prospect Avenue to the east, Milwaukee Street to the west, Wells Street to the south and Ogden Avenue to the north to keep their vehicles parked on city street for up to five days without being ticketed or towed.

At the moment, residents of that area are required to move their cars every 24 hours or risk being towed and ticketed. Under the new rules, residents must still have an overnight parking permit and obey other parking rules.

The resolution was sponsored by Ald. Robert J. Bauman, who said, "In effect, if we didn't approve the extension (of the pilot project area) we're telling those residents without off-street parking that they need to keep driving their cars to work every day, keep adding to exhaust and air pollution, or else they're facing a ticket or a tow."

Bauman told OnMilwaukee.com that to prevent problems with snow plowing, the rule does not apply during the winter parking rules period (Dec. 1-March 1).