Every day — rain or shine, hot or cold — four women roam the streets of Athens, ticketing illegal parkers and bringing more than $300,000 into the city’s coffers annually.
Last year, Athens grossed more than $330,000 from parking tickets, almost twice Ohio University’s 2011 revenue of $181,000. This year, Athens reported handing out more than 12,000 tickets during the month of February alone.
Jennifer McClain-Eskey, one of the city’s four parking-enforcement officers, said her previous job experience helped her work in the potentially confrontational role of handing out tickets to drivers.
“Before I was doing this, I worked as a parole officer for the city, so I had the tough skin to deal with tough situations,” the two-year parking veteran said.
McClain-Eskey said she has had only one run-in with a troublesome student since beginning the job in November 2010.
She asked the student to move his car after he parked on a yellow curb, which signifies no parking at any time, to an open metered spot in front of him. The student complied and McClain-Eskey continued her route.
The next week, the same thing happened.
“There he was again, parked on the yellow curb, so I gave a ticket,” she said. “I had already warned him once — 10 cents could have saved him $10.”
Like Athens, OU also issues tickets for improper parking, such as parking in a restricted lot without a pass or at an expired meter.
Sophomore Zach Hook knows about getting a ticket in a restricted parking area: Within four days, he found that many OU parking tickets were tucked under his windshield wiper.
Hook said he got the tickets while waiting to get a university-parking pass, but he found that Transportation and Parking
Services were very accommodating.
“I went in (to parking services) to see what they could do since I was trying to get a parking permit,” Hook said. “They understood and waived the four tickets I had gotten.”
OU’s policy of waiving parking tickets — typically only the first one — is something unique to the university, said Marty Paulins, director of OU Transportation and Parking Services.
Despite waiving fees, OU still grossed $181,000 in 2011, which will go back into the parking system, Paulins said. He added that OU usually has about $100,000 in outstanding parking-ticket fees despite often waiving them.
Paulins said the policy is an incentive for offenders to get in contact with Parking Services.
“By getting into contact with the offender, we can explain to them what they did wrong,” Paulins said. “It is a learning experience.”
sm366909@ohiou.edu
