Last week we looked back at the very first AUMnibus article. Today let’s jump forward in time to 2003 to look at an event that may be of some relevance today. Some around campus have said that parking has been a problem. Was parking a problem 10 years ago? This was the lead article in the January 22, 2003 print edition of the AUMnibus. Click the article for a larger image. A text transcript is located below the photograph.
2500 Parking Tickets Issued Last Year
By Austin Gaines
Auburn University Montgomery received $20,015 in revenue from parking tickets during their fiscal year, Oct. 1, 2001 to Sept. 30, 2002.
The revenue generated from parking tickets goes into AUM’s general funds.The AUM campus police gave 2500 tickets for parking violations last year.
There are 10 types of parking violations that are outlined in the Parking and Traffic Regulations pamphlet that is found in the cashier’s office. The fines range from $150.00 for illegally parking in disabled spaces to $10.00 for improper parking.
Many students such as Josh Loy find it unfair to be issued improper parking tickets for things such as resting their tires on the front curb of a parking place. Other students such as Mary Faaborg, who received a $25.00 fine for parking approximately one foot into the yellow zone by a curb, are unnerved by the lack of close available parking spots. Life happens while you are still going to school is the way Faaborg sums up her daily toil of preparing her children for school.
Many students at AUM are parents like Faaborg who find it difficult to arrive in a sufficient amount of time to make what they call, the long walk from any of the back spaces in the parking lots.
To get a parking ticket repealed, recipients can contact the Parking Repeals Committee. The committee is made up of different faculty, staff and students who decide if a repeal request is valid.
Tickets have already been given to violators of a new restriction. TI restriction prohibits vehicles from parking near and around the area behind the Liberal Arts building which consists of the Technology Resource Center, ROTC building,Building Service building and Athletics building. AUM Chief of Police, Jay Gardner, said in an email to faculty and staff that, Effective January 13, 2002 vehicles found illegally parked will be issued a citation for improper parking.
As of January 13 there were no visible signs stating that parking is prohibited in that area.
—
Were you a student in 2003? What do you think? Are parking and tickets a problem, or are they merely an unavoidable part of university life? Sound off in the comments.