How many of you have received a ticket from University Parking and Transportation? How many of those were, on your honor, factually incorrect tickets? How many of you appealed those false tickets and lost? How long did that entire process take? For me, the answers are three tickets, six appeals and nine months and counting.
The parking department's ticketing appeals process is broken. This is no longer about my own tickets; it's about the fact that the entire system is flawed. I simply want students to know that they're not alone in being borderline-defrauded by P&T.
When it takes nearly a year for an erroneously issued ticket to be appealed; when appeals are denied only because "the officer says you're wrong"; when there isn't any acknowledgement that even police officers can make mistakes; when the hearings officer is not interested in listening to or trusting students who are honor bound not to lie; when the Parking Department expects an interest-free loan from students for the "privilege" of buying a U.Va. parking permit; it may be time to recognize the flawed execution of the current ticketing appeals system.
Broken Point #1: Guilty and unable to be proven innocent.
I've been issued three parking tickets from the University. Each one of these three tickets is simply factually incorrect. Two of them were issued while I was parked in a clearly marked, legal space, which is next to a long line of illegal spaces. The officer issued the ticket claiming I was in one of the reserved spaces, when I simply was not. It's easy to see how that mistake could be made if an officer did not turn around to see the changing signs. The third ticket was issued to me behind the physics building. It claimed that I was parked in the Darden School parking garage. Could someone please let me know where that garage is? I've never been there.
I've written a total of nine signed appeals to these tickets, six of which have been denied, with one per ticket still pending. When a student cannot win an appeal based on factually false tickets, what is the point of the appeals system?
How should the department fix this? How about it gets some digital camera equipment? Small, cheap digital cameras are well under $100 now. Give one to everyone issuing tickets and have them document where the car is parked. It's absolutely unacceptable that an officer's ticket is taken as "proof" of where a car was parked. In any true appeals system, proof of guilt would be required, not just the fact that a ticket was issued. Just take a picture.
Broken Point #2: "Meeting with me is not going to help."
Over the course of the nine months that I've been appealing tickets, I've tried on numerous occasions to actually speak with someone in the department in person. I've run up against brick walls every time, including asking by phone, e-mail, and showing up at their office. It's summed up by one of the e-mails that I received stating, "Meeting with me is not going to help."
I'm not exactly sure what the department is going for with this policy of no interaction, but it seems to make it clear that they have no interest in what a student has to say. Meeting with students would at least give the department a true feel for what they are doing.
It's also noteworthy that on one occasion, when I actually had someone on the phone, it was abundantly clear that the designated student liaison, meant to be our link to the department, is uninterested and borders on downright disrespectful: she frequently interrupted me in mid-sentence. P&T needs to communicate better with students, and respect a request to meet in person.
Broken Point #3: Expectations of interest free loans.
When I attempted to buy a U.Va. parking permit this year, I was informed that in order to get one I had to pay my "outstanding" tickets even though they are still under appeal. If the appeal ever finished and I were to win, I would be refunded. The department has had almost a year to finish this appeals process, and they now expect me to pay off false tickets on the hope that sometime, I might get my money back. That is absurd! This means that they are expecting a large interest free loan (for me, $115), from a college student, for however long it takes them to get around to finishing the broken appeals process. No self-respecting business would expect its customers to loan them free money, and why should this department be any different.
Broken Point #4: What happened to that honor code?
Why are students assumed to not be telling the truth? The honor code virtually defines our existence at this school. And yet when it comes down to our word against that of an officer who surely issues countless tickets every week, it becomes so difficult to prove our innocence that it's much easier to simply take the punishment.
To the University administration and student population in general, if the student honor code means absolutely nothing to the University's own employees, why should it mean anything to the students?
Stephen Levin is a third-year student in the College of Arts & Sciences.
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