Students try to sneak out of paying
Nov. 18, 2004
By Jesse Virgil
Staff Writer
Parking has been a major problem on the St. Ambrose University campus for years. A lack of adequate parking spaces has left a major crunch for commuter and resident students. In this chaos, students opt to park in lots without valid parking stickers, or park in firezones or areas not marked off as spaces.
A majority of the time when these events take place, security issues a ticket. However, an on-going trend for a lot of people is to tear up the ticket or simply ignore it, hoping the problem will fix itself. Little do they realize the problem simply won’t go away.
“By the time the ticket has been written the computer has already made a copy of it, and it gets uploaded to a database,” Director of Security Robert Christopher said. “If it is a student with a permit, the charge gets transferred to the student’s account.”
Students who do not have valid permits are not clear of paying tickets either. Security uses a third party who finds the owner of the vehicle without a permit, and an extra charge is added to the parking fine.
Some students take drastic measures to insure they don’t have to pay their fines. Some students take off their license plates in hopes security is unable to look up their vehicle. However, by using the VIN number, or Vehicle Identification Number, the third party is able to track the owner of the vehicle. These types of measures may also lead to the car being towed.
Security believes the ultimate goal is to not issue tickets, but for students to get a valid permit and park legally so they don’t have to give out fines. Students can register their vehicle and receive a permit, which costs $45, at www.thepermitstore.com.
After a ticket is issued we have what we call an aging process,” Christopher said. “This means there is a certain period of time to pay or appeal the ticket.”
Anyone wanting to appeal the ticket may do so at The Permit Store website or submit a written appeal to Christopher.
Along with this trend, visitors parking in student or faculty spaces have been a problem. Temporary permits are available at the security office in the Rogalski Center for people that wish to stay longer than the two hours designated in the visitor lots. Temporary permits run $2 a day and $4 a week.The Buzz On Campus is a bimonthly newspaper produced by the students of
St. Ambrose University. For more information, contact them at 563/333-6101 or thebuzz@sau.edu
Copyright © 2005
Updated: February 12, 2005 7:56 PM