Parking in Athens is a puzzle, complicated by its complex pieces. Ohio University students and Athens residents are often frustrated, plagued by costly citations and a lack of space to station their vehicles.
At the center of uptown parking citations and regulation is one sector of the Athens Police Department– Parking Enforcement.
According to the most recent Athens Police Department annual report, in 2021, parking enforcement efforts in the city resulted in 12,629 tickets, generating approximately $734,884.23 of revenue for Athens city's general fund.
Captain Ralph Harvey supervises parking enforcement at the Athens Police Department. As he explained, people can become angry after receiving a citation. When citizens become frustrated with a citation, officials work to resolve the issues at hand calmly.
"We try to let them explain their side of it, let them vent," Harvey said. "Then we try to explain to them why that law is the way it is. A lot of the time they don't understand, and sometimes they don't like it."
According to Harvey, there have been extreme situations due to frustrated citizens who receive tickets.
"We have people that kind of fly off the handle," Harvey said. "We've had problems. We've had parking officers … people have tried to hit them with their cars."
Most recently, Harvey recalled an instance where an individual received a citation for failing to pay their meter. The individual became enraged with the parking officer.
"They were following one of our parking officers," Harvey said. "He was trying to come back to the office because this person was just flipping out on them, yelling and screaming, cussing them out and kind of threatening him."
However, these cases are extreme. Harvey said that most of the time, citizens at the receiving end of a citation are reasonable and parking officers are often kindly willing to explain a citation.
There are five parking officers within the city of Athens, according to Harvey. Their duties include enforcement, money collection and meter repair. One of these officers is Jonathan Smart. Smart said he is always ready and eager to explain a citation to a citizen.
"If I end up having to cite a vehicle, I try to make it a point that I educate them on why it was cited to begin with, and how they can avoid that and all future occurrences," Smart said.
Smart shares a range of advice for students and residents looking to avoid citations. For example, he suggested paying the meter no matter how long someone will be away from their vehicle.
"A lot of times, we don't know if people have been going for a few seconds or a few hours," Smart said. "So generally, if we have a vehicle that has an unpaid meter, we have to enforce them as unbiasedly as possible."
Smart also suggested individuals parking in Athens avoid bagged meters, always read signs near parking spaces and avoid parking in front of fire hydrants or alleys.
"As long as you pay your meter and you're parked within the lines, that's 90% of the trouble, so you're almost there," Smart said.
Clay Lewis, a senior studying chemistry, said that over the years, he has received a multitude of tickets. But he believes he has mustered up a recipe to avoid citations and park responsibility as an OU student. For example, Lewis suggested that students park in metered university lots rather than trying to find a space uptown.
Even though Lewis has found parking success, he still has frustrations with citations.
"If it was up to me, I would say no tickets, but I guess that's unrealistic," Lewis said. "I think the price for the tickets is a little out there. I don't think there's any reason for them to be as expensive as they are."
Similarly, Alex Lorenz, a junior studying aviation, said parking in university lots can be frustrating.
"I am a commuter student," Lorenz said. "It makes parking an absolute nightmare."
When The Convo lot is closed, commuter students must find alternative parking. Lorenz said there have been occasions when university parking fails him, and he turns to Athens City parking.
"I think the city of Athens does a fairly decent job with their parking," Lewis said. "On Court Street, there's plenty of street-side parking. A lot of people get ticketed, because they don't pay the meters. But, that's their problem, not the city's problem."
Despite any frustrations or praises citizens of Athens may have with parking services, Smart said he has overall goals as a parking officer: safety and education of residents and students.
"I'd much rather (parking students) keep that money in their pocket and spend it on the expense of tuition and books and room and board," Smart said. "If we have people come up to me, it makes my day to be able to answer questions."
