3 ms·

I'm not convinced this is true in general, even if it is often true. Signage is unclear or absent. Certain departments are probably corrupt or inept. There are

I'm not convinced this is true in general, even if it is often true. Signage is unclear or absent. Certain departments are probably corrupt or inept. There are also times when avoiding tickets is basically impossible. My local (and relatively large) community college brilliantly decided to do all three of these things at the same time: 1. Close down the third largest lot on campus. 2. Lease out half of the second largest lot on campus to local businesses. 3. Oversell permits for the remaining parking. As a result, students began parking on the city streets. But the local residents didn't like that, so the city made those streets permit only (and only gave permits to local residents)* . The college's response was "get here early," which at best is not a solution and at worse, exacerbated the problem by making parking even less available in the early parts of the day. Later they added a meager shuttle solution which they didn't even keep for an entire semester (the parking situation lasted for YEARS rather than months because of theft, lawsuit, and resident concerns about the job site). Frankly, I would be impressed with anyone who didn't get a ticket over that time period and still managed to make it to classes. Looking further, the local downtown simply has inadequate parking. The downtowns of other nearby municipalities are the same. It certainly makes political sense to keep parking prices low and just ticket the hell out of violators rather than raising prices to keep demand in line with supply and making consumers and businesses unhappy. I'd be very surprised if these municipalities hadn't worked out the math and figured out which results in more money for them. *Those roads are still (and probably permanently) permit only, so the only ones really suffering are going to be the short-sighted locals.

gliese1337 11y ago
This sounds shockingly familiar. Closing lots, overselling permits, closing local neighborhood streets, implementing an inadequate shuttle after years of student complaints.... My experience is not with a community college, though, so I can be fairly certain we're thinking of at least two separate examples of pretty much exactly the same thing going on in different college/university towns.
justinclift 11y ago
What's the name of that community college, so others in your area reading this can know to avoid it? :)
sokoloff 11y ago
Why would the locals be suffering if those roads stay permit only? Resident-only parking permits is a very common system and seems to work well (living in Cambridge, MA that has such a system).
- AnthonyMouse 11y ago
  Because once the school fixes their parking situation the problem is gone but the "solution" still needs to be renewed every year and is a headache whenever residents have visitors.
- cgriswald 11y ago
  There is no purpose to parking on these roads except to visit the local residences. The college is the closest non-residence to these neighborhoods and even that is a hike; students only parked there out of desperation and then walked a long way. There wasn't even a parking crisis for local residents. The homes there have multicar garages and driveways. They simply didn't like people parking on "their" street. The streets are wide and the parking space is ample. They've effectively banned visitor parking in the entire neighborhood. And for families with teenagers and multiple cars, they've got to shuffle cars or keep permits updated for no benefit of any kind.

gliese1337 11y ago

This sounds shockingly familiar. Closing lots, overselling permits, closing local neighborhood streets, implementing an inadequate shuttle after years of student complaints.... My experience is not with a community college, though, so I can be fairly certain we're thinking of at least two separate examples of pretty much exactly the same thing going on in different college/university towns.

justinclift 11y ago

What's the name of that community college, so others in your area reading this can know to avoid it? :)

sokoloff 11y ago

Why would the locals be suffering if those roads stay permit only? Resident-only parking permits is a very common system and seems to work well (living in Cambridge, MA that has such a system).

AnthonyMouse 11y ago
Because once the school fixes their parking situation the problem is gone but the "solution" still needs to be renewed every year and is a headache whenever residents have visitors.
cgriswald 11y ago
There is no purpose to parking on these roads except to visit the local residences. The college is the closest non-residence to these neighborhoods and even that is a hike; students only parked there out of desperation and then walked a long way. There wasn't even a parking crisis for local residents. The homes there have multicar garages and driveways. They simply didn't like people parking on "their" street. The streets are wide and the parking space is ample. They've effectively banned visitor parking in the entire neighborhood. And for families with teenagers and multiple cars, they've got to shuffle cars or keep permits updated for no benefit of any kind.