Parking at UMBC has been an especially hot topic of conversation for the past year or so, ever since the officials at Parking Services, along with the higher-ups in the UMBC development program, decided to reorganize spaces and rules. The views of both students and officials are pretty well known, but what about those “meter maids” posting tickets on cars? What’s their side of the story? And why is the head of Parking Services so protective over them?
Getting in touch with Helen Garland (in the first place) is no easy task, from the start. Almost every email in correspondence immediately replied with an “Out of Office” message, and a personal response took nearly three days. Her messages were terse and very strict in nature-usually only a greeting, one line, and a closing.
“If you have specific questions for the field personnel you can direct them to me. They do not provide interviews.”
It also took nearly four correspondences to be allowed to speak with one of the ticket distributors. Eventually, however, she did allow a meeting with one person- for seven minutes. Though, he didn’t answer many questions, and kept looking back toward the door as if expecting to be watched.
She did, nevertheless, feel free to provide some (albeit dated) facts about the general parking situation. September (of an unspecified year) produced a staggering 1305 tickets. From September first of last year, through June of this year (ten months), $265,969 was generated by parking tickets alone, and that doesn’t include the (unspecified) number of contested tickets which had been issued.
The number of available parking spaces was also kept guarded. Garland only mentioned a total number of 6,805, but that number has changed several times in the past year with the addition of bus parking spaces and the two lots changed due to construction of the new Fine Arts building. It is not clear when that figure refers to, nor how the parking is distributed according to the new zones.
The actual parking ticket staff (whose quantity is apparently contested among staff members, between three and six) is little affected by the job or the number of citations produced, so they say. According to both Garland and the “Parking Ford,” payment is strictly salaried as state employees, although no number was given in order to compare to the amount profited from citations. And yet, considering the number of workers, and the number of tickets issued, they remain elusive unless you catch the “ticketer” in the act (or bother their boss for five weeks).
This also raises questions such as, where is all that money going then? Neither would provide an answer, if there was one to be told. The best they could contribute was “It’s for the campus…” What about its students?
Joshua Kuderna of the Retriever Weekly gave many in-depth statistics on parking meter revenue versus professor salaries (nearly triple the figure) and the numbers of available spaces versus number of commuters to the college (about half). All in all the numbers are frightening, yet there’s still no real answers as to why these decisions are being made. One disgruntled student commented, “It’s almost like decisions have been made [long before we had a voice in the matter] and the forums are purely a way to placate the ‘people’ so they feel they have been heard.”
Yasmin Karimian, student liaison, comments that many students have been complaining about parking and the worsening of the system. “I have been getting a lot of the brunt, but that really is ok. I will continue to send the message that students are weary and extremely upset with the situation to the administration.”
Even staff members are up in arms about having to walk even farther than normal. Professor Ladd, the cello tutor since 2006, Director of UMBC Chamber Players, among other titles, is perturbed about the parking situation. “Last year, I could at least drive down to the FA entrance to drop off my cello and then park and walk down, but this year I have to drag my cello past all that construction, and again uphill on the way back. It takes time from my students and I’m not built for that anymore.”
But what about those Ticket Fords? According to one, who didn’t feel comfortable giving much information (including his name), “I’ve never gotten a ticket on campus; it’s not hard to get a permit.”
He shifted his weight, as if uncomfortable, and looked at Garland’s door every time he was asked a question, smiled, and stared until a less revealing question was asked instead.
According to “Mr. Ford,” there are no real qualifications for this job. He simply responded to an online ad and was trained on campus. Previous to this job, he was a driver for an unspecified company in the area. Now his full time employment consists of checking the gates for functionality, inspecting parking meters for unpaid fares, and walking the lots in search of “violations.”
He admits to having individuals approach him to contest tickets before they’re posted on the target’s car, but cannot describe an “interesting” occurrence. “I just tell people that there’s a process to follow. They can try to appeal the ticket in court.” With a man his size, it’s not surprising that no one has threatened him.
Despite not having a very interesting job for the past three years, “Mr. Ford” still finds his career rewarding. “I enjoy my coworkers, and I get to meet a lot of people.” Some would argue that there are better ways of meeting people than delivering bad news.
With indifferent Ticket Fords, powerful voices lacking reason, and a busy commuter population, it’s no wonder that parking seems to be getting worse. Many solutions have been proposed and shot down for various reasons-financial, political, and otherwise-one can only hope that somewhere along the line, a breakthrough can be made.
Another student, who wished to remain anonymous, mentioned one solution to get the message through: “I would love to see [Garland and other decision-makers] try to park in student spaces at 2pm and then walk to [their] office[s], THEN tell me how parking is so great.”
Cited: Joshua Kuderna – 09/02/2008Modified Tue Sep 2 06:30:49 2008 – © The Retriever Weekly.
Reference:
- Joshua Kuderna – 09/02/2008Modified Tue Sep 2 06:30:49 2008 – © The Retriever Weekly.
