Parking issues are not new to the University of La Verne, but residents should be the last ones to feel the effects of the reduced spots and parking changes made through the fall semester.
With Lot D no longer available and commuters being required to park in the shuttle lots, some commuters have decided they would rather receive a ticket from Campus Safety than be inconvenienced by parking off campus and riding the shuttle.
The issue is commuters are filling spots in campus lots that are reserved for residents.
Too often, residents are unable to find any parking during the day when they come back from work, lunch or running errands.
With all of the resident lots filled, residents have no other option but to park in the shuttle lots. However, parking over night in the shuttle lot is prohibited.
Residents should be able to easily come back from the store and park near their dorms, but now it has turned into a fiasco.
They have to find parking in the shuttle lot, only to hop back on the shuttle at night to move their car onto campus.
Signs near each lot’s entrance clearly state permits are required and “all others are subject to citation or tow,” however, Campus Safety does not enforce this well enough.
Violators are cited with a $48 ticket, but there are no repercussions if the tickets remain unpaid. With no deterrent, such as not being able to register with unpaid fines on their account, commuters see Campus Safety’s tickets as a joke and park wherever is the most convenient.
Tickets are often ignored. Campus Safety needs to stand its ground with commuters violating parking rules, have a harsher penalty for unpaid fines and possibly tow cars that repeatedly fail to comply by parking in the shuttle lot.
Residents should not be continuously inconvenienced by those who cannot follow the rules while the new parking structure is being constructed, and they should always have a place to park.
Unsigned editorials represent the opinion of the Campus Times Editorial Board.