Okay, let’s get something straight. I’m a poor college student who is astounded by the price of not only our tuition but our various fees such as purchasing a parking pass for $250.
Now, with this parking pass, I’m granted access to 10 overnight lots and four commuter and overnight communal lots.
However, there are no less than 19 commuter lots. And if you check the parking map, six of the overnight lots are tiny. Like, super tiny.
I’m not one to complain about minor inconveniences. But this is no minor inconvenience. I live in Jewett hall which has a parking lot of 35 spaces.
One is for the Residence Hall Director, one is for service vehicles, three are handicap, and two are for telecommunications. And about 99.9 percent of the time, it’s all full (except for the reserved spots).
Now, I know what you’re thinking. What is telecommunications and why do they need two spots? Well, they’re Internet people, or IT if you will, but I have never once seen anybody parked in those spots.
Occasionally, when the rest of the spots are full, I have ventured to park there just for a place to put my car. And I’ve gotten two tickets from that.
Yes, that’s my own fault. However, that’s not it. After admitting defeat in telecommunications, I decided to go to the FAC lot, or Lot 1 on our handy dandy map. It’s listed as both a commuter and overnight lot on our map.
However, I was ticketed for parking there overnight. This quote is taken from the Drake University Public Safety web page: “Residential permits are allowed in lots one and four between 6 a.m. and 2 a.m.”
Well, after this I was stupid enough to just pay it, but I should have challenged it at Public Safety.
Ever since, I’ve been having to resort to my old parking lot from when I lived in Herriott, which is a good 10-minute walk from my dorm now.
I’ve honestly considered just parking in the Public Safety lot behind their building and refusing to move my car.
Now, let’s reminisce about last year during Drake Relays. The lot I parked in, Lot 18N, was closed off for the whole week, meaning we had to fend for ourselves.
I parked in the Olmsted lot overnight, which led to a ticket, then moved to the Jethro’s parking lot and walked to my dorm.
If you guys weren’t at Drake or don’t remember Relays last year, it was freezing. So not only was I kicked out of my parking lot with no alternatives opened up, I half-froze on my way to my dorm from the restaurant parking lot that I luckily found a spot at.
Plus, I’m sure Jethro’s wasn’t very appreciative of me taking up one of their spots.
Fast-forward to this year: the Jewett lot was closed for a day and blocked off by the Des Moines Marathon for the morning of Oct. 16.
I get it, the marathon has a route and they need to stick to the route. But when the lot closed, where was I supposed to go park?
That’s when I went to the FAC lot and got a ticket, which I am multitudes of bitter about.
Jewett isn’t a large building and I understand that we don’t have a hundred spaces for us.
But look at GK’s lot. They’ve got two tiny ones right off the building that are 100 percent of the time filled to the brim, and then they have the one outside of West Village. But according to my friends in GK, there’s almost never a spot there.
So, Public Safety (and all other officials at Drake University who have any sort of jurisdiction over any of the campus and/or parking), riddle me this.
Where are we supposed to park? Why am I getting ticketed for parking in an overnight lot? Will you reimburse me for the $25 ticket I paid for?
