The Parking Ticket Exploitation Rant

Oh. Parking tickets. They tick me off. Especially when there are fewer and fewer choices for parking at the campus of UNCG, and more and more times and unique ways tickets are issued. Does this really uphold the mission statement of the University's Parking Management?

Recently, as in this semester, the paint job outlining identified parking spots was redone. Great for visibility, but they marked off plenty of spots that could have been used easily, squeezing commuter students in and limiting space. Makes it easier to survey the area for extra tickets too.

Any student that parks on a yellow triangle (that last semester was a legit place to park) is ticketed for $50 immediately. I was enlightened with this understanding when desperate to park after one of the last ice storms hit, while parking spots were blocked with ice, and almost every day at 11:00 am the parking deck was closed for those without a parking pass(which had already been very annoying and time consuming). This excludes days the email was sent out allowing parking in the horribly long-wait park and ride lot. There was no parking anywhere. Believe me, I know every parking spot that exists in the area. I appealed the ticket and won, stating that the closing of the parking deck to those without a pass almost every day at the same time in combination with ice and none of the limited free parking spaces available made parking impossible and that I should not be fined simply because the parking management at UNCG had temporarily failed. I targeted their mission statement to allow all students adequate access to parking. Keeping student parking from becoming stagnant by patrolling every 2 hours is one thing, this was indeed another.

As a commuter student that doesn't exactly have the money to buy the holy sparkling privileged year-round parking pass for the parking deck, yes that pass which goes up another $50 every year, the free 2 hour parking is a necessity. Other additions to the ticket violation list now include parking a few inches over the white lines, even if the person behind you forced you to. hmmmh.

This is checked so frequently that many tickets are issued every hour. When parking is intentionally limited and no real flexibility exercised, the city and the University is actively exploiting hard-working college students, not even middle class yet, for money. Because they can. So, in short, those who don't have a whole lot of money and are going to college and must park their cars frequently typically get ticketed. Those who have plenty of money, a pass, or dont need to leave campus for work, have it made. They also have plenty of time to study. Power and money in the university system again--people with money can move forward much faster. It does not matter how much a poorer student knows and their ability to use their knowledge... even the University grading system is inaccurate because students with less time to cram for a giant exam are squeezed out. Time is money, right? Students that must apply for Financial Aid are also required to be full-time students, even though they are very likely to be working at the same time due to only a basic financial covering aside from loans. Loans are taken out anyway, but if a student only took out loans and did not work, and was paying for their education on their own, they would end up just like many people in America: ready to start out on a career, and already deep in debt. What a way to make your debut.

Anyway, I think there should be free parking all day for commuters that have a bicycle. The cars stay there, do not waste gas moving cars every 2 hours--the Piedmont was just sited for having the WORST AIR QUALITY in the area, exhaust the cause--and students aren't exploited that must work hard already, and are instead rewarded for going to school and using less gas to do so. It also saves time.


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