Higher fines not necessary

IU students might soon have to pay even more money for parking tickets. A proposition to the Transportation and Parking Advisory Committee (TPAC) in November suggested a $5 increase in the price of parking tickets, with revenue going to the IU Auditorium's budget.\nIs this fair? Why should students have to pay more than $35 for a single parking ticket? IU makes $2.5 million a year in parking tickets, according to an IDS article Jan. 29, 2001. This is nearly equal to the $3 million the entire city of Indianapolis makes in parking tickets in the same amount of time. \n Why can't IU find alternative means of raising money for various programs and services? Why can an entire city survive on only a half million more than IU in parking tickets? IU should learn to use money more efficiently -- maybe then it would not be necessary to raise the price of parking tickets to more than $35 each.\nThe money raised from this increase will go toward the IU Auditorium because discounted tickets sold to students cost the Auditorium $200,000 a year. But this policy will only be in effect for two years, and the Auditorium will then need to find other sources of revenue.\nWhy can't the Auditorium and IU find other sources of revenue now and keep the price of parking tickets at their already-pricey level? The Auditorium could try to obtain donations from organizations that support the arts, instead of taking more money from parking violators.\nPeople who park illegally should be ticketed. But the money incurred from those tickets should not go to support programs in other areas, even though Bruce Jacobs, associate vice chancellor of administrative affairs for Residential Programs and Services, thinks it should.\n"If someone violates the rule and has to pay the fine, some good could come from it," Jacobs said.\nThe money could be used instead to build more parking garages and parking lots or to fix decrepit streets.\nIU Parking Operations needs to find an alternative way to put the money it makes back into parking operations at IU, instead of temporarily giving it to the IU Auditorium. Charging more than $35 for a parking ticket just isn't the answer to anyone's problems.\nStaff vote: 19 - 1 - 0\nyes - no - abstain