LETTER: Parking fee may help problems

To the editor:

USU needs to overhaul their draconian parking regulations. I realize that I am probably not the first person to address this topic, and I definitely won’t be the last.

I needed to get some things done in the TSC and obediently fed the meter my 25 cents to get the half hour of parking that I thought I would need. As it turns out, my tasks took me 37 minutes. As I ran back out to my car, I was greeted by two upstanding gentlemen from the parking office, who were preparing to boot my car. I knew that I had probably run overtime, and my appeals that I had only been over by a few minutes fell on deaf ears.

They graciously allowed me to drive to the parking office to defend myself, although they tailgated me the whole way down 800 East, as if they expected me to make a break for it. After I pulled into a parking stall, they pulled in behind me, blocking my path out.

In the end, I ended up with my freedom, and my car. However, the way I was treated by the USU Parking staff was reprehensible. I suppose that the nearly $4000 a year I pay in tuition and fees doesn’t grant me the right to be treated in a dignified manner. I wasn’t even allowed to go get a checkbook to pay my ransom. I had to pay right then and there, or they’d boot my car right there in the parking lot. Of course, the office doesn’t take checks, so even had I had it, I still wouldn’t have been any better off. I was even charged a fee for boot removal, even though my car was never actually booted. Thankfully, my wife works nearby and was able to come bail me out. I realize that had I been prompt in paying off my previous tickets, I could have avoided this altogether. However, the manner in which I was treated was uncalled for, regardless of the circumstances. Perhaps we should start paying a parking fee with the other fees we pay. I guarantee that most will get more use out of that than the fee we’re paying for the athletic programs.

John Howell