It’s a Tuesday afternoon and you just had the worst day of classes. You can’t wait to hop into your car, turn the music up and go home.
You walk out to the parking lot, but to your surprise, you car is nowhere to be seen.
The explanation? Your car was towed along with many other cars over the past few weeks. If you don’t want this to happen to you, it is important to follow school policy, according to security.
Associate Director of Security Frank Ficko said, “All in all I would say that the parking situation on campus is manageable.”
Ficko added that problem parking areas are different every year.
“The problem this year seems to be in the village area,” said Ficko, “whereas last year that wasn’t the case.”
Students interviewed by The Mirror said that parking is a frustrating problem on campus this year, especially in the village.
“If they are going to start towing chronic offenders, then they should have somewhere remotely close to the village for those people to park at,” said Mike Barry ’05, who lives in Claver.
“Security maintains that there would be no parking problems if everyone parked where they are supposed to,” said Sue Keane ’04, a resident of the apartments.
“Well,” she continued, “that should apply for staff too. I used to come back from my internship and not have anyway to park in the Kostka/Claver lot, but I would see professors and library staff parking there. Everyone pays the same amount for their sticker, the faculty sticker should not be a magic park-where-you-want sticker, they should have the same rules we do, and if we can’t park in their lots, they shouldn’t be allowed to park in ours.”
Keith Shaffer ’05, who lives in the townhouses, said parking is also a problem there. “It sucks,” he said.
“You can never find any spots around the townhouses anytime past 8 p.m. unless you’re lucky, and no one wants to walk from Dolan,” Shaffer said.
As indicated in the Traffic and Vehicle Registration brochure issued to everyone upon registering their vehicles, the university reserves the right to remove any vehicle that creates a hazard to life and property on campus.
This includes if it is parked in the fire lanes, within 10 feet of a fire hydrant, tow away zones, handicapped spaces, service vehicle spaces and reserved spaces. Security will not contact the owner/operator before towing the car, and there are no exceptions to this policy.
Throughout the academic year Security also maintains a list of chronic traffic offenders who accumulate five or more violations.
Vehicles which receive five violations will be subject to modified parking regulations. Additional violations will result in a $50 surcharge in addition to the regularly published fines.
Furthermore, anytime the vehicle is found parked illegally, which includes parking in a lot not assigned to that vehicle, it will be towed. Payment of tickets does not remove offenders from the tow list.
All towing of vehicles is done at the expense of the owner/operator and the recovery of the vehicle is the responsibility of the owner/operator. This usually costs about $250 on top of the university fine. The university does not assume responsibility for alleged or actual damage resulting from a vehicle being towed.
According to Ficko, the security department does not enjoy towing vehicles. Unfortunately, he said, this enforcement effort is necessary in managing the parking needs of the campus community.
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