Trailing the money from 40,000 parking tickets
Bailey McBride
Issue date: 9/15/08 Section: News
Students wonder about the whereabouts of their parking money every year, and might be surprised to know where it all goes.
The Transit and Parking Department is an auxiliary of the UA, which means they receive no funding from the university budget. All parking funding comes from the permits sold and the tickets given.
In 2007, university officials gave out 45,279 tickets for parking violations, said Andy Gilbride, program adviser for Transit and Parking. So far in 2008, they have written 39,019 tickets, writing an average of 215 tickets per day.
"If you figure in the fact that the University has around 19,000 students, that shows you that at least most people are doing the right thing," Gilbride said.
Sophomore Rosalyn Taylor said she wants to know where the money from those tickets goes.
"I want to know every new lot, every pot hole my money is going to fill and where that money is going," she said.
Students who believe that they have been ticketed unjustly are allowed to petition an appeal to the Transit and Parking committee. To place a written appeal, students must go to the parking department office, pay $10 and fill out a request. Their tickets then go before the committee.
"If we were on the appeals committee, we would just say no, you deserved it," Gilbride said, "but this committee is made up of faculty and students from across campus so that decisions made are not biased."
Fees for written appeals used to be $2, but "our office was flooded with these requests" with students trying to get out of tickets and get the extra month not to pay them to the point where we could not see all of them," Gilbride said.
In 2007, out of 437 written appeals, 24 tickets were overturned, 56 were made warnings and 357 were denied and upheld as good tickets, Gilbride said. These appeals cited reasons from the fact that the students just didn't know, to a professor holding them over in class, to an RA telling them they can park places they cannot. None of these reasons will get students out of a ticket, however, Gilbride said.
The Transit and Parking Department is an auxiliary of the UA, which means they receive no funding from the university budget. All parking funding comes from the permits sold and the tickets given.
In 2007, university officials gave out 45,279 tickets for parking violations, said Andy Gilbride, program adviser for Transit and Parking. So far in 2008, they have written 39,019 tickets, writing an average of 215 tickets per day.
"If you figure in the fact that the University has around 19,000 students, that shows you that at least most people are doing the right thing," Gilbride said.
Sophomore Rosalyn Taylor said she wants to know where the money from those tickets goes.
"I want to know every new lot, every pot hole my money is going to fill and where that money is going," she said.
Students who believe that they have been ticketed unjustly are allowed to petition an appeal to the Transit and Parking committee. To place a written appeal, students must go to the parking department office, pay $10 and fill out a request. Their tickets then go before the committee.
"If we were on the appeals committee, we would just say no, you deserved it," Gilbride said, "but this committee is made up of faculty and students from across campus so that decisions made are not biased."
Fees for written appeals used to be $2, but "our office was flooded with these requests" with students trying to get out of tickets and get the extra month not to pay them to the point where we could not see all of them," Gilbride said.
In 2007, out of 437 written appeals, 24 tickets were overturned, 56 were made warnings and 357 were denied and upheld as good tickets, Gilbride said. These appeals cited reasons from the fact that the students just didn't know, to a professor holding them over in class, to an RA telling them they can park places they cannot. None of these reasons will get students out of a ticket, however, Gilbride said.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Kale
posted 9/14/08 @ 11:12 PM CST
How retarded. I can't wait to graduate just because of the worthless parking department. Gilbride clearly needs a scepter to rule over his parking lots. (Continued…)
Brent
posted 9/17/08 @ 12:21 PM CST
I can understand giving tickets, its what they do. Although I do think it can be a bit overboard sometimes, its expected. The thing that I think is simply ridculous, is when you do recieve a ticket, in order to park at the police station to pay that ticket, you must pay a meter, to pay your ticket. (Continued…)
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