By Linda Missal
“One hundred to headquarters. How’s Lot 1 looking?”
After taking a moment to study the surveillance cameras, the guard on the other end answers: “You’d better get down there.”
“Okay, I’m on my way.”
Reinhold Woykowski, RVCC’s safety and facilities manager, approaches two vehicles. Without hesitation, he speaks into the handheld radio, “Call DeLucas Towing.” Within minutes, two tow trucks arrive to carry away a Honda Accord and a Jeep Grand Cherokee parked along the curb at the far end of Lot 1.
“Somebody has to be the bad guy,” he says as the flatbeds pull away.
Woykowski started enforcing the new “low tolerance” parking policy on Feb 12. Six cars were towed, including the Honda and Jeep from Lot 1 and a Nissan Altima that was parked on a grass median in the same area.
The parking situation at RVCC has gotten out of hand. Students are so desperate for spots that some have resorted to parking on the outer edges of the lots and up on the grass. On any given weekday between noon and 2:00 p.m., no fewer than three cars are parked illegally in either of the front lots.
According to Woykowski, there is no excuse. “We don’t have a parking problem,” he said, “we have a walking problem. There is ample parking in Lot 5—there are almost always 150 to 200 spaces available—students just don’t want to walk.”
And why should they? Rather than park in Lot 5, they can snag a spot on the grass a few feet from the door. They’ve paid their $30 parking fee, after all. And until Feb 12, the only punishment for these parking offenders seemed to be yellow “warning” slips that inform the driver their car is parked illegally.
“In the future, please park yourvehicle in Lot 5 when Lots 1, 2, and 7 are full,” the warnings read.
“The last time I got one,” said RVCC student Alec Signorino, “I just took it off my car and threw it on the ground.” Signorino’s attitude is typical. Parking Lots 1 and 2 are often littered with yellow slips of paper.
Woykowski explained that until now, he has taken a lenient approach. The Safety and Facilities department gave out warnings to prevent students from parking illegally.
“We don’t want to tow,” he said. “We understand that it is expensive and inconvenient for students to have to bail their cars out after being towed. Most students just don’t seem to realize how their parking habits affect the overall safety of the school,” he said.
The lack of respect that students have shown for RVCC’s parking rules and regulations have made it necessary for the security staff to increase the consequences for parking violators. “We’re cracking the whip,” Woykowski said.
People who park along the curbs are not just breaking rules, “They are jeopardizing people’s lives,” he said. A fire truck or an ambulance may be unable to access the school in an emergency because cars parked along the curb don’t leave enough room to pass. Those same cars also inhibit the safe flow of regular traffic, and are frequently the cause of accidents.
Parking on the grass may not seem as serious, but according to Woykowski and the RVCC student handbook, it warrants towing. “They’re ruining the grounds,” Woykowski said. “If everyone parked on the grass whenever they wanted, think about what the campus would look like.”
News of the new policy didn’t have enough of an impact to improve student’s parking, and towing continued the following day. Another thirteen cars were dragged to holding facilities around the Raritan area.
Students who think they’d rather take the risk of being towed than have to walk all the way from Lot 5 may want to consider that the impound fee will cost anywhere from $100 to $125 (there goes your psychology text book). And there is an additional $30 per night holding fee. If the towing company needs to enter the vehicle—cars parked on grass medians often need to be taken out of gear before they can be towed—the student may be charged an additional $50.
Regardless of what students have thought of parking security in the past, the new towing policy has set the standard for parking etiquette much higher. While the amount of towing is expected to slow down, Woykowski has instructed the security guards and patrolmen to keep up with these new standards.
“We have towed and will continue to tow cars that block the flow of traffic,” said Woykowski. “It’s a decision that’s made because it pertains to safety. If we weren’t controlling this, it’d be havoc.”
Whether or not this policy will be continued remains to be seen. For now, students may want to think twice before parking illegally.
Link to:
Student Annoyed by Parking Spot Stalkers
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