Tow job
Cars on campus towed without warning

Courteney McDonnell | staff writer
cmcdonnell@smcvt.edu

During the past five years at St. Michael’s College, 109 student cars, on average, are towed each year.

Where’s the parking?

According to Peter Soons, director of safety and security at St. Michael’s, there are 1,648 total parking spaces available on campus, yet nearly 560 of those spaces are not accessible to students.

Soons says that this is because parking previously occupied the space where Canterbury Hall now exists.

A campus ticket sits under the wiper of a student car. Alex McIntire photo

“Zone parking was developed when the newer residence halls opened and there was a shift in the concentration of student housing with a loss of space in that area,” Soons says.

St. Michael’s offers permits based upon the capacity of the area, he adds.

“Those who have permits have a reasonable expectation they can find space there, and equally important is those without permits know to look elsewhere,” Soons says.

Nevertheless, with an increase in students, parking is steadily becoming less available.

“The requests exceed the number of available permits consistently for Zone A, and this semester we issued all the available Zone B
permits,” Soons says.

There is already an increase in the number of citations that have been given this year in comparison to those given by this time last year, according to Soons. There have been 1,191 citations given thus far, 175 more than this time last year.

Although Soons says that it is rare for a car to be towed unlessl a subsequent violation has occurred, St. Michael’s possesses the right to tow a car on the first offense in particular situations, including parking illegally in handicapped spaces, or parking in a zone without a permit.

What’s been happening so far?

“I hadn’t used my car over the course of a week and I had gotten a ticket everyday,” says Kevin Quinn a junior at St. Michael's.

Quinn had kept his car in the parking lot of The Tarrant Recreation Center.

“I didn’t even know I needed a pass over there,” Quinn says.

Although Quinn admits he may have gotten an e-mail over the summer outlining the parking pass guidelines, he says his e-mail was not working at that time.

Parking signs enforce zone restrictions. Alex McIntire photo

“I was in the process of appealing the tickets, but before I managed to do that my car got towed while it was parked in Ryan,” Quinn says.

Quinn feels that the towing was just an opportunity for St. Michael's to gain revenue, he says.

“Stacking the tickets on like mountains is a little over the top,” Quinn says. “I feel like I didn’t even have a chance before I got a bunch more.”

Junior Alex Furdon says he tried to appeal his ticket after he lent his car to a friend who had a 6 a.m. baseball practice. By 7:30 a.m. Furdon’s friend found a ticket on the car. However, Fudron lost his appeal, he says.

“In this particular case I wish they were understanding because it was the only ticket out of four million that I appealed,” Furdon says.

Parking in the future

“Any changes to our current parking facilities will likely be tied to future building initiatives,” Soons says. “I'm not aware of any plans that will impact parking.” 

Late in the evening a tow truck company sweeps the 300's parking lots. Larry Frisoli, photo

However, Soons explains that when it comes down to it, parking violations are the fault of the students.

“It's the students' responsibility to be familiar with the regulations governing parking,” Soons says. “I would be very content if when we went out to monitor and enforce parking we did not find people in violation.”

Furdon says he thinks students should be given more warning prior to receiving tickets for their vehicles being towed.

“We already pay enough to go to this school, and I think it’s really lame that we have to pay extra for parking passes and tickets,” Furdon says.