Donna Hultine, director of the parking department, estimates fines only made up 20 percent of the department's $725,000 in revenue last year.
Every morning All Ladner parked her red 1997 Mustang convertible in the northwest corner of the third floor in the Kansas Union parking garage. The Silver Lake Junior fed the meter each time she parked, knowing she would go over the allotted time. More than once she returned to find a bright pink parking ticket on her windshield.
On a rainy day last fall, Ladner returned to find her usual spot empty. At first she panicked. Then she remembered her accrued parking tickets and realized her car had been towed from campus.
Often students' mentality on getting towed is similar to death
or STDs: they think it won't happen to them. Incidents like Ladder's, however, occur nearly every day on campus. During the 2004-2005 year, 76,977 tickets were issued on campus and A&M Towing, which contracts with
Students aren't helping their cause, however, when they display an uncanny inability to follow parking regulations.
the University, carried away 438 vehicles. Two hundred more have been towed since July 2005.
Despite these figures, the Parking Department maintains that you can go four years of college without getting towed, let alone getting a single ticket. Yet, the odds of this happening seem comparable to not getting harassed by a Senate candidate on Wescoe Beach in the spring. Those involved in the process, including students, KU parking department staff and tow truck operators, speak up on their behalf to give a better understanding of why towing happens and what each side thinks of the process.
Lost for space
Although the department has
added over 2,000 parking spaces in the last decade, constructing new buildings without considering parking solutions negates the department's attempted progress. The department manages 13,573 parking spaces in 99 lots, roadway parking areas and two parking garages. These spaces serve a campus population of approximately 30,200, including just over 25,500 students.
Limited parking spaces might not present such a fiasco if so many students didn't bring their cars to campus, the department says. Fat chance.To wit, a report compiled for the department last year on current parking conditions at the
University says "with less than 9,000 commuter permits issued versus a total commuter population of approximately 24,500 students, it would follow that a number of tickets would be issued for vehicles failing to display a parking permit."
Students aren't helping their cause, however, when they display an uncanny inability
to follow parking regulations. top offenses include "No Valid Permit," the most frequently cited violation at 38 percent of annual issuance, and parking at an expired meter, which accounts for 35 percent of tickets every year. Whether students don't want to walk up the hill, are running late or just want to park for only a few minutes, the excuses do not matter to the department if they park illegally.
Time crunch
Tristan Houghton, Shawnee senior, didn't buy a pass because she was on campus only a couple of days a week. She thought it would be economically sensible to pay a meter. Her plan didn't work out too well when she arrived late and had
to park at the Kansas Union garage because it was nearby. Because of her chronically late nature, she was towed. It happened last semester on the last day of finals. She parked in the Kansas Union parking garage without a permit, but paid the meter. After she finished her last test, she entered the garage but could not locate her teal 1994 Toyota Celica TT.
"I went from being so exhilarated from just finishing everything with school to being crushed, all in a matter of 30 seconds," she says.
Houghton says she wishes a 15 minute leeway was given for people who put money in the meter but were late getting back to their cars. Unfortunately, such things don't exist.
Alan Bloomquist, Ellensburg, Wash., junior, works as a meter monitor for the parking department. Bloomquist says nothing is more frustrating than when he hears. "I've only been parked for a few minutes."
TEN WORST LOTS BY NUMBER OF TICKETS ISSUED
These lots ranged from 25 to 100 percent of cars with tickets, but most ended up somewhere in the middle.
1) Kansas Union Parking Garage
6) Lot 107 - Near Scholarship Halls
2) Lot 129 - Behind Eaton Hall
3) Lot 35 - Near the Multicultural Resource Center
4) Lots 102 to 105 - Near Residence Halls on Daisy Hill
5) Lot 72 - East of Burge Union
7) Lot 90 - Near the Recreation and Fitness Center
8) Lot 117 - Near Watkins Health Center
9) Lot 100 - Near Scholarship Halls
10) Lot 111 - Near Corbin and GSP
Source:Parking Department Report compiled by Chance Management Advisors, Inc.
"How am I supposed to know how long they've been parked? I have no way of speculating what they've been doing or how long they've been there," he says.
About 80 percent of students Bloomquist encounters when writing tickets, which happens about two or three times a day, understand it's not his fault and that he's only doing his job, he says. When he does encounter people he'll let the ticket go if he can.
already been printed, and then my hands are tied. But before that I'll cancel it and walk away."
"People think were wielding our power or trying to screw people over. Really, I don't care one way or another," Bloomquist says. "Usually I let them go unless the ticket has
Students behaving badly
Justin McAuley, Lawrence senior,
owed $250 worth of outstanding
tickets, yet he was nonplussed to find
his silver 2001 Audi S4 missing from
the Student Recreational Fitness
Center parking lot a few weeks ago.
While walking through the parking
lot, the meter monitor asked McAuley if the Audi was his car and told him it had been towed.
"At this point I was pretty angry so I responded to him sarcastically, 'Thanks for towing my car, buddy.' The meter guy then responded to me, 'No problem, I enjoyed doing so.'
McAuley then got in a verbal argument with the meter monitor. He says he understands it was his fault and his responsibility, but that he didn't appreciate the rudeness from the parking department members, even though he did "bitch" at them.
There is a lot more the department can do to help when people act civil, says Sarah Cook, administrative specialist with the department. Cook works in the office and says while most people are easy to work with, there are exceptions.
"I know we're not people's favorite department," Cook says. "But students choose to park illegally and that's not our fault."
Fine by me
Donna Hultine, director of the KU parking department, says the department prefers that student-
pay off tickets before a tow truck becomes necessary. They can avoid the whole ordeal by setting up a payment plan for accumulated tickets. The plan involves incremental payments and a stipulation that the student can't get another ticket until the full amount is paid.
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Many students are accustomed to regular bills for tickets. "There are people who come in once a month and act like it's a part of going to school," Hultine says. "They definitely know the drill."
Alex Benson, Salina senior, admits getting a ticket is a waste of hard-earned money. Just last week, Benson paid off $120 in parking tickets. But his apathy was no match for monetary value. He says he tries to be diligent about where he parks on campus to avoid a ticket, but once he gets the first one, there's no turning back.
"After that I just stop caring and I figure I'll just run up a tab and pay it off at the end of the semester." Benson says. "I figure I've paid about $500 to the parking department during my time here."
That money goes to the department, an entirely self-supporting entity that earns money through parking passes and tickets. The money goes toward parking lot maintenance and construction. Hultine estimates the department will bring in a gross revenue of $4,847,000 for the 2005-2006 fiscal year, with nearly half coming from permit sales. Fines only make up 20 percent of the department's revenue, bringing $725,000 to the department last year.
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