With Nov. 1 now but a mere speck in the rearview mirror, students are learning that the snow ban is in effect whether or not it snows. Until April 1, students will continue Oberlin’s winter ritual of jockeying for the spaces closest to campus and home.
The stress of finding parking has fueled allegations that more parking permits are issued than there are spaces, an accusation that is unsubstantiated, according to Associate Director of Safety and Security Marjorie Burton.
“I think the grumbling is that there are not enough spaces close enough to where they [students] wish to park, close to the dorm, close enough to be able to drive from class to class. From our observations there are always spaces available in our large north campus lot. The reality is that they are not convenient to inner campus and south campus,” Burton explained.
While it is technically true that more permits are issued for faculty and staff than can be accommodated by Oberlin’s lots, it is rare to find all of Oberlin’s faculty on campus at once.
Out of a total of 1,223 parking spaces on Oberlin’s campus, 391 are designated for student use. Although last year the number of permits issued to students reached 400, only 320 permits have been issued so far this year.
That said, the 198 student spaces in the North Field lot are not doing much for south campus residents.
Some students inevitably try to evade the $60 registration fee, particularly those students who live off campus but occasionally park in campus lots. Apparently, there is no risk in trying since the first violation ($60) for parking an unregistered car in a campus lot can be paid by simply registering.
Nonetheless, repeat violations can bring draconian measures, as one College senior found out her sophomore year.
“Once, I got my car booted. I had done nothing. No, really, I had done nothing and ignored the three tickets I had received for not having a registered car...as for learning my lesson, I still haven’t registered my new car,” she lamented.
Although students may complain about the tickets they receive from Safety and Security, they are much better off getting fined by the College than by the city.
In addition, if the College tickets them first, the Oberlin Police Department will honor the College’s ticket and not impose their own fine.
“A handicapped violation is $75 [from the College], but for the state law where the city can come on private property and ticket, the fine is $250,” Burton warned.
Not to come off as capitalizing on students’ lax parking habits, Burton ventured that the most common citations carried fines of only $10.
“Those fines go to a student scholarship fund. They do not go back to any College department or the College in general,” she stated.
The onset of the snow ban usually carries with it a large number of tickets for unregistered vehicles parked in lots, but so far this month there have been fewer citations than usual.
One option that students have during winter is to park in faculty and staff lots, as long as they move their vehicle by 7 a.m. and have a registered vehicle.
However, on nights that are predicted to see heavy snow, certain inner campus lots (designated by signs) are closed from midnight to 6 a.m.
For the students who haven’t checked weather.com that day, a $45 towing fee and a long walk up to the Field House lot to retrieve their car could be in order.
If it has actually snowed, they might just have to do some digging.