Florida A&M University parking services and the FAMU Police Department have finally gone too far.
Instead of focusing on writing tickets for the students and staff who drive 45 mph in front of places like SBI or the bookstore, it seems like all of their energy is focused on who has a decal and who does not.
At the end of the fall 2006 semester, parking services began administering boots to cars that are illegally parked, have outstanding tickets or no decal.
The system wouldn’t be so bad if it was used in moderation.People who like to double-park their cars, or park so badly that a person cannot pull into the space next to them, deserve to be booted.
However, cars parked in faculty spots deserve to be towed because a booted car would still be in the way of the faculty member whom the spot belongs to.
Anyone who commutes to FAMU and wants to park at the stadium, tech building, Jake Gaither gym, band practice field, etc., should be able to park without the fear of paying $80 to get their car out of tow or paying $55 to get a boot removed. Decals should not be required for general parking locations.
The majority of people who park at FAMU are students, administrators and faculty.
The FAMU Police Department needs to work with students and staff. It makes absolutely no sense to boot a vehicle that is parked at the stadium or the band practice field. During regular school hours the stadium is never filled to capacity. The majority of vehicles being towed or booted belong to students on limited incomes.
It seems that since the beginning of the spring 2007 semester there has been a considerable decline in the number of cars parked at the stadium and band practice field. I’ve noticed that more students, faculty and administrators are having to park at homes or on outside streets that surround the University. If FAMU parking services wants to change the parking garage to a general parking area for decals only, that would be understandable. The garage is a luxury.
However, if commuters want to walk a little farther to class or their job and don’t mind dealing with the risk of getting rained on or having their seats melted by the heat, they should be able to park in these general parking lots without the added stress of boots being placed on their vehicles.
Since we pay for parking as part of our tuition, why do we have to run the risk of being booted or towed while parking on campus? Yes, students need not to park in faculty and administrative parking spots, but any other area should be first come, first served.
Something should be done to help us because, as stated in our mission statement, we exhibit “excellence with caring.”
Darrah Gaither is a senior public relations student from Atlanta. She can be reached at darrah.gaither@yahoo.com.