File this under a personal Milwaukee first: a parking checker who stopped writing me a ticket when I ran up to my illegally parked car and smiled sheepishly.
It happened just the other day, and I couldn't have been more surprised. I parked my car, ran into Alterra for just five minutes, then came back to my space, where I hadn't bothered plugging the meter.
The parking checker was there, and I could tell she was in the process of writing me a ticket. I mouthed, "I'm sorry, I'm leaving now" and she actually smiled. Nicely.
At first, I assumed that was a sarcastic "tough but I already started writing the ticket" smile, so just to be sure, I gave her the "thumbs-up, thumbs-down" gesture.
She smiled again, gave me the thumbs up, and drove off.
Could it be that the parking checkers are mellowing out a little?
Let's hope so. As the guy who got enough parking tickets in the '90s to put all of the Department of Public Works' kids through college, it was a welcome change.
Thanks, parking enforcement woman. You made my day.
Andy is the president, publisher and founder of OnMilwaukee. He returned to Milwaukee in 1996 after living on the East Coast for nine years, where he wrote for The Dallas Morning News Washington Bureau and worked in the White House Office of Communications. He was also Associate Editor of The GW Hatchet, his college newspaper at The George Washington University.
Before launching OnMilwaukee.com in 1998 at age 23, he worked in public relations for two Milwaukee firms, most of the time daydreaming about starting his own publication.
Hobbies include running when he finds the time, fixing the rust on his '75 MGB, mowing the lawn at his cottage in the Northwoods, and making an annual pilgrimage to Phoenix for Brewers Spring Training.
