On a campus with 24 acres of parking and 3,177 parking spaces, the students of Fredonia are kind of pissed.
Why? There’s nowhere to park. And even when there are places to park, we’re getting tickets.
Upon Managing Editor Meghan Guattery receiving a $25 parking ticket for displaying her parking sticker on the inside of her window, we decided to address the growing issues surrounding parking, parking tickets and why we think they’re becoming a mean for the university to take money where students have none.
Thankfully, Guattery was acquitted because the charge was bogus to begin with, but that left us wondering how many other students faced similar struggles.
One of our primary concerns is the issue of parking availability. According to the official website, Fredonia offers 3,177 parking spaces to its students. However, this does not account for 20-minute spaces, reserved spaces, seasonal spaces, which spaces are designated for upperclassmen, overnight spaces, visitor parking and handicapped spaces — which are essentially useless to many students who are in a rush when they need to get to class.
So, when there are less parking spots available, students are forced to park in spaces in which they do not have permission to park. This is the first parking trap the institution has set for its students.
But wait: There’s more.
The infractions for each ticket may be multiplicitous. Students may be charged on the same ticket for several similar offenses, which would bring a “Time Limit Ticket,” normally a $25 offense, up to a “Time Limit, Restricted Hours and Flashers Not On Ticket,” bumping up the overall price of the ticket.
Those students who have been around the block for a couple years might remember the parking lot that used to be where the Science Center now stands. Once that parking lot was dug up, it was never replaced. Commuters lost an entire lot dedicated to their parking needs.
Professors, too, face restrictions when trying to find a place to park. While they have the commuter lot available to them, next to the townhouses, it is still a far trek from campus facilities (even if they take the park and ride bus, this may still be a timely inconvenience for their morning routine), and not all of them commute in the first place.
So what can we do?
The most obvious solution is to demand more parking spaces, and potentially fewer limited parking spots. While 20-minute parking may be convenient to those who have to move large instruments into Mason or need a quick bite to eat, there are far too many restricted parking locations on campus for students to be able to quickly and effectively fulfill their parking needs.
To stay informed about campus parking regulations, visit www.fredonia.edu/upd/ParkingRegulations.asp.