What bulls**t, Part 2!

AchtungBaby80 · #1 09-06-2002, 09:12 PM

For those who don't know much about my school, everyone complains about the parking situation, which is pretty bad. The cheapest parking permits cost $115, and that's for a lot about a mile and a half from my sorority house. So, for the second year in a row, I decided not to waste my money and just park on the street, which is free. Spaces are hard to come by, but I've been doing it long enough to know when the right time of the day is to try and find a space.

Well, I lucked out (or so I thought) and got my favorite spot Tuesday afternoon, after a trip to Wal-Mart to buy a birthday card for my boyfriend. Today as I went to get in my truck to go to work, I got a nasty shock--my truck was not where I left it! In its place was a beat-up old hooptie. I thought I was hallucinating for a moment, but I managed to walk back to my house so I could call the campus police to see if they'd towed it (which, I might add, they are famous for, as well as liberally handing out tickets). They didn't have it. I ended up having to call three places before I located it, and when I went to get it, I found that the towing company was holding it ransom for $86 that I did not have. I felt bad for the towing people because they were so nice and I'm sure they get yelled at all the time, but my blood was boiling anyway. Turns out that the city police had had my truck removed for "improperly parking"--which makes no sense because 1) I'm paranoid about tickets so I always make sure not to park on the yellow, and 2) I've been parking by that same damn piece of curb for 2 years!! Oh, and I also have a $15 parking citation I have to pay. What is up with this?!? The police were very secretive about it, saying that they couldn't "give out that information"--I had to speak to the officer who had had my truck towed, who was, of course, not there.

So the point of my novel is this--have you all ever had any parking nightmares?? Please share your horror stories with me so I can feel better!

KappaStargirl · #2 09-06-2002, 10:56 PM

I didn't own a car until I graduated from college, but I had friends that did have cars while we were in school, so I'll share the secondhand nightmares.

Appleton, Wisconsin, has two strange city rules. #1 says that you can't throw snowballs. #2 says that there is to be no parking on any city street between 2 am and 5 am. Yes, you read that right.

The Lawrence University campus is about 3/4 of a mile from east end to west, and you can imagine that there's not a lot of room for parking. Unless you win a 24-hour spot in the parking lottery, which usually go to superseniors and seniors, you either have to pay for a year-round spot in the town parking lots, or do the car jockey thing: The campus lots are reserved for faculty and staff from 7 am to 5 pm, when it's ok to park on the street. So what you have to do is park on the street during the day, and then move your car into a university lot at night. But you have to have it out by 7 the next morning. Quelle hassle.

valkyrie · #3 09-06-2002, 11:21 PM

Achtung, does your ticket indicate a procedure for disputing the ticket? If you can dispute it, you probably should.

Chicago has its own special demon that was born in the bowels of parking hell. It goes by the earthly name of Lincoln Towing. If you even THINK about parking somewhere that is or was illegal at some point, they are going to tow you. It will take them about ten seconds to find you and tow you, no matter where you are. They are watching you right now, in fact. Yes, I know I sound paranoid, but it's true. One time I was with some friends and we parked somewhere that wasn't even marked "no parking" and they towed us. So you go over to get your car, and they charge you like $200 in cash or some outrageous amount of money. When we were there, my friend was trying to find out why they towed her, and she was standing by the motorized gate asking the guy a question. They closed the gate on her, and if she hadn't moved quickly, they would have smooshed her in there. And they are SO RUDE you can't even believe it.

And yeah, when I was in Iowa City, I got towed twice but that was totally my fault because I got a ton of tickets that I didn't pay. There, they tow you way out to the middle of nowhere and make you pay cash for towing, storage and all of your tickets. Of course, you don't have money and you don't have a car to get out to the boonies to get your car. It's awful.

AchtungBaby80 · #4 09-07-2002, 11:37 AM

Thanks y'all--I feel a little better now!

The police said I would have to speak with the officer who had my truck towed to get any explanation, but he wasn't there and he hasn't gotten back to me. My sister got a little irate on my behalf and called the police station, and the lady on the other end of the line got a little short with her and would only say that the city has an ordinance saying that every vehicle parked on the street has to be moved every 24 hours, so I guess I'll be doing the "car jockey" thing, too. It just makes no sense to me because A LOT of people I know park on the street regularly and have never ever had a problem, including myself. I think it's just a money-making ploy.

lifesaver · #5 09-07-2002, 07:42 PM

San Antonio doesnt tow. They just put a boot on your shit. So your car will still be there, just immobilized. I learned to pay off parking tickets right fast. Shit gets expensive, boot removal, tickets, ugh.