Parking
at Oberlin: Where?
By Chris
Morocco
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. |