For the past few months, I've been a fugitive.
Not from the long arm of the law, such as the police or even the FBI, but rather the pudgy pinky finger of the law -parking enforcement.
After accumulating $90 worth of three outstanding parking tickets, I find I am in a state of constant paranoia about the welfare of my car. I've passed the vague fear that I might get another ticket. There will be no other tickets. I was told months ago that I'm on the tow list
and it seems there's no way of getting my name scratched off that black list until I pay up, which like every good rebel, I refuse to do.
So instead, I live in continuous fear that my car will be gone every time I step out a door with my keys in hand. Every time I turn the corner of West Washington and onto the steep hill of my street, I expect to see my car being pulled away by one of Athens' many tow trucks. Or worse, I dread that it may not be there at all.
Athens, like many other small, congested college towns and crowded cities, is infamous with residents and students alike for having a strict, take-no-prisoners parking policy driven by rules many of us do not learn until we find a ticket tucked underneath the windshield wiper of our car.
The game of move it or lose it begins when you pull off the highway and enter Athens' city limits. A small sign posted at the end of the exit ramp of Route 33/50 U.S. warns that parking on all streets is limited to 24 hours. Parking meters must be fed a regular diet of quarters and dimes from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and parking tickets must be paid within 48 hours of issuance or the price hikes up $10 more.
According to the Athens City Auditor's office, just last year Athens parking enforcement collected $653,826.77. Of this figure, $391,707.77 came from the coins dropped into the parking meters scattered across town, and $262,119.00 was amassed from parking tickets. In 2003, parking enforcement collected $689,142.92.
So where did this money go? Where is it going? The money is being appropriated into the general fund of Athens, which goes to pay for core city services, such as the fire and police departments, code enforcement, and other city agencies, such as the mayor's office. Though the Athens' street division is responsible for road repair, I think that parking enforcement should contribute to that task as well so we can see our parking money at work.
The money should be used to provide more adequate parking. There seems to be a minimal amount of street division money being used to repair the roads, which are ridden with potholes, swelling clusters of bricks and uneven pavement. It sometimes takes months to fill in a pothole or repave a street. I guess I wouldn't be so annoyed with parking tickets if I saw the money coming back to where it is needed in the community. Instead, I just feel as if I am throwing away money when I stuff a check into that tiny white envelope.
I think the special annoyance with parking tickets lies with the fact that it induces such a strong pang of defeat in our otherwise OK day. There's nothing like returning back to your car after an afternoon of classes or a couple hours of work to discover the dreaded slip of red and white paper flapping in the wind. It's like seeing your money pinned to your windshield, and you know you're not getting it back.
Yeah, so it's only $90... worth of groceries, gas, beer, that cute skirt in that magazine that I just have to have. There are so many things I'd rather put $90 into, especially when I get nothing from a parking ticket besides a headache and a disheartening bank receipt.
We may not be able to control how many vehicles there are in Athens, and sometimes, we may not even be able to prevent from having to pay for our mistakes. But I'd bet there would be a lot more parking tickets paid if we could see where our money is going and put it where it needs to go: back to the streets.
In the meantime, to save your money and your car from being snatched away by parking enforcement, you just have to keep moving.
That said, I've got to motor. It's time to move my car.
-Liza Martin is a senior journalism major. Send her an e-mail at lm258701@ohiou.edu. 17
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