IUSA writes letter of complaint about parking fine increase

IU Student Association President Casey Cox has sent a letter to IU Parking Operations Director Doug Porter urging a reconsideration of the recent increase in parking fines.\nTickets for on-campus parking violations have increased from $35 to $40 for violators without a parking pass and from $30 to $35 for violators with a pass.\nCox's letter, which reflects the position of IUSA, argues that "such a system has not only no hope of further preventing offenders from parking illegally, it penalizes freshmen, new drivers and one or two-time (minimal) offenders." \nCox and IUSA suggested that IU Parking Operations "look more seriously into habitual offenders and develop a system of aggregated fines, rather than increasing fines for all students."\nCox said he and Porter previously spoke about the issue.\nPorter said the increase was not imposed to create more funding for the department.\n"We just want people to park legally," Porter said in a story Sept. 8. "Hopefully with a higher fine in place, people who would have parked illegally won't do it anymore."\nIU Parking Operations generates more than half of its $5 million annual revenue through parking fines.\nCox said he believes that these fines are an important student advocacy issue.\n"Parking has always been a sensitive issue because of the beauty on campus, and there is no quick fix," he said. "Any issue where students are penalized by circumstances out of their control needs to be opposed. This latest fines increase is a step in the wrong direction."\nMany students complain every year about the system of on-campus parking violations. \nSenior Jeff Braun said he believes he has unfairly received parking tickets on several occasions.\n"I got a ticket for parking at the dorms one time when I had to drop off a suit," he said. "First I looked around Foster for a parking meter, but they were all filled, of course. I knew I was running the risk of getting a ticket, so I put my blinkers on and ran in and out as fast as I could. It took less than two minutes, but there was the lady writing me a ticket when I came out."\nBraun recalled another occasion when he parked his car at the Parking Operations building to exchange his E pass for a D pass and had a ticket waiting for him when he came out.\nBraun, who considers himself a minimal parking offender, said he likes the idea of an aggregated system of parking fines.\n"There should be some kind of record on how many tickets people are getting," he said. "Just imagine how many fewer people would violate parking if suddenly on your third or fourth ticket the fine just skyrockets."\nIUSA has begun to address the parking problem on other fronts, as well, with plans to create a drop box at the Main Library, where students are often ticketed when turning in their library books.\nStill, Cox said he believes that cooperation is needed from IU Parking Operations to solve problems down the road.\n"They have a noble goal in mind, but they are doing it at the expense of student pocketbooks."\n-- Contact staff writer Jake Rossman at jrossman@indiana.edu.