Confusion arises over parking

From September 2006 to last month almost 200 cars have been into Fanshawe's infamous “car jail,” but some students are questioning the signage in certain parking areas and finding them inconsistent.

“I feel the school is taking advantage of students and actually misleading them in a way when the towing warnings are only on some of the parking spots and not all of them,” said Fanshawe student Sarah Locke, who has been a victim of the towing rules on campus.

The visitor parking lot outside of M building has 56 spots with no signs stating cars will be towed. However, parking spots that run parallel with Oxford Street have warnings directly attached to the parking number. Both lots are “pay as you park” and all parkers have to use the exact same machine. In addition, the machine where parking tickets are purchased has no sign stating you will be towed if you don't purchase a ticket.

“The parking system here on Fanshawe College, which is private property… can be managed by the college as to who is towed from the campus and who not is towed,” said Manager of Facilities Support Services, Marion Dietze, who is in charge of all parking at Fanshawe College. “Even if there is not a sign is not a reason a student can not be towed from a spot. A sign is just giving you another warning saying that, that spot you can be towed out of.”

The M building parking lot is not alone when it comes to not having any warning signs on the parking spot number, it also happens on half of another lot. If students come in off of Second Street and turn left onto College Road, the visitor parking lot off the right has no signage on the first 58 parking spots that warn of towing. However after the 58 spots end, a new row of parking is available and those 46 spots are labeled with towing warnings.

“We [Facilities Support Services] [were] asked to try and reduce our signage in the different parking lot,” said Dietze.

Locke said she finds this sign inconsistencies very misleading. When she confronted parking officials/security with her defense that she didn't know she could be towed because there were no signs, they informed her that she had received warnings before. “Those warnings were given to me when I was in other spots, like the coin lots where it does say it will be towed,” added Locke. “I never received a warning when I was parked in that spot where it didn't warn me I would be towed.”

According to current parking rules and regulations, if a vehicle is towed to the car jail the violator will be charged just over $93, which includes towing fees and taxes. If approximately 200 cars have been towed since enforced regulations in September, the College has collected an estimated $18,900. Dietze said this funding has gone back into the parking budget.

From that same parking lot where Locke has been towed, Fanshawe student Dustin Ivanisevic has been able to avoid the $93 release fee from car jail a total of 18 times. Ivanisevic, who has driven to school every day since September, estimates he has only paid $100 this year in parking. Although, he admits officials did try to tow his car once, he was able to make it back in time and pay the $40 drop fee.

“There are no signs saying I have to pay. I noticed that some spots have the warning and some don't. I park in the lot that has no warning what so ever. Why should I pay? All the parking spot says is ‘pay at meter,'” explained Ivanisevic. “You go look at the meter and it doesn't tell me I will be towed. Now they do tow from there. That's not right. They should have a sign telling us they will be towed.”

Although there is a small sign at the entrance on Second Street that states towing does occur on campus at the owner's expense, the same cannot be said for the Cheapside and Oxford Street entrances.

According to Dietze, the entrance inconsistencies are scheduled to change.

“The school has purchased four large signs to go at our entrances coming off campus. Those signs have been purchased for a fair bit of time, not a long period of time, but we have had them for a few months now,” said Dietze. “[The signs] are just in the process of being installed. They were just waiting for the frost to get out of the ground.”

Dietze said she is unable to see the student's point of view because the inconsistencies have never been brought to her attention before.

“If there is no sign, that is not an excuse to park anywhere. If you park between two yellow lines it's a general policy here at the College you have to pay for parking,” explained Dietze.

Locke said she would like to see either signs on every parking spot or change the system and go to parking tickets, much like the parking at the University of Western Ontario campus, which Fanshawe College is scheduled to emulate beginning in September 2006.

As of next September cars will no longer receive a warning for an expired meter or parking spot, instead they will receive a $20 ticket payable to Fanshawe College.

“This summer the college will be putting a fair amount of dollars into improving the signage on the whole campus when we start our new fine system September 1,” explained Dietze.