The process of creating ParkMilwaukee.com began long before the Web site was first launched. It started as an idea in a committee meeting of the Westown Association. Then, in 2001, the Downtown Milwaukee Collaborative Partners were looking for ways to respond to concerns about various parking issues.

The 2nd bi-annual Milwaukee Downtown survey of southeastern Wisconsin households had shown downtown leaders what they already knew: that citizens needed and wanted more information about parking in downtown Milwaukee. The conduit for disseminating that information would become ParkMilwaukee.com.

At a meeting of the Westown Association Transportation Committee, members brainstormed about how to make parking information more accessible to the general public. Through that session, a web site was born. When the Downtown Milwaukee Collaborative Partners heard Westown's idea, the wheel was set in motion.

The Westown Association, working with OnMilwaukee.com, used its resources to individually contact the parking structures and their parent companies to ensure correct information. The initial version of the site and program was created using only the Westown Association boundaries in Downtown Milwaukee. Immediately, the site became a one-stop-shop for parking information in downtown Milwaukee.

Through the collaborative efforts of the Westown Association, Milwaukee Downtown, East Town Association, Historic Third Ward, the City of Milwaukee, and OnMilwaukee.com, a new version of ParkMilwaukee.com - a comprehensive and complete downtown version of the site was born in Nov. 2003. The collaborative nature of the project spurred the process and helped create one of the most innovative and interactive parking websites in the country.