By Jordan Morris
Staff Writer
When junior Diana Dodson found a white piece of paper tucked under the windshield wiper of her Pontiac Grand Am two weeks ago on Upper Dorm Road, she said she was outraged.
Upon closer examination of the paper, she discovered that it was a $20 parking citation from the Department of Public Safety.
She admitted that her Grand Am was parked more than 18 inches from the curb, violating DPS parking and traffic regulations. However, two surrounding cars, one in the fire lane behind her and the other over the line in front of her, she said, prohibited her from parking closer to the curb. Her ticket is currently on appeal at DPS.
“It was highly unjustified,” she said. “I wasn’t blocking traffic, and out of the three of us, I was the only one who got a ticket.”
With a record number of students with cars on campus this year, parking can be an additional burden to students and faculty. The annoyance of receiving parking tickets makes the lack of parking more stressful.
“We can understand how getting cited for a parking violation can be frustrating,” DPS Director Earl Carpenter said. “But that’s not our intent.”
Although there were no updated numerical statistics available there have been fewer parking tickets issued this year to date than last year, Carpenter said.
“I believe this shows we are trying to understand and evaluate the parking situation for students,” he said.
He stressed that on-campus parking is monitored 24 hours a day. A special parking control division of DPS patrols between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. weekdays, while regular on-duty officers patrol during graveyard shifts and weekends. He said that he instructs his staff to handle parking enforcement responsibilities in “a professional, caring and sympathetic manner.”
The responsibilities, which are outlined in a brochure distributed to all campus mailboxes each year and are available on the Pepperdine Web site, include the enforcement of permit parking areas and general regulations as outlined by local and state governmental agencies.
Carpenter said that regulatory outside agencies, including fire and police departments, require the establishment of many of the red-curbed areas, handicapped spaces and carpool spaces, not DPS. These agencies also have the right to enter campus and issue tickets themselves.
According to statistics produced by Parking Control Supervisor Don Tanburrow, on-campus parking fines are $20, except for unauthorized parking in a handicapped space, which costs $280. These fines are consistent with the California Vehicle Code.
Carpenter said that there are students who continually violate parking regulations as though money is no object. Upon the sixth unpaid ticket, a vehicle’s wheels will be locked and an additional $45 fee will be charged, he said. Additionally, after six citations, paid or unpaid, each ticket thereafter carries an additional $5 fee.
“If a student shows a pattern in violating our code of conduct, further disciplinary actions will be pursued, including possible suspension from campus,” he said. “But I have not had to do such a thing this year.”
All money made from parking tickets is transferred directly to the general account of Pepperdine University. DPS did not have current statistics available regarding the amount of money parking tickets bring in per month.
Permit violations are among the most frequent reasons for ticketing. The parking and traffic regulations brochure also specifies in detail the guidelines for all permit holders, including resident students, commuter students, faculty and staff, students who carpool and the other 12 permit classifications.
This year is the first year junior Jillian Bibb has owned a car on campus. She called the number of different permits “ridiculous.”
“The permit system just contributes to the lack of parking,” she said. “I don’t have time to park at the other side of campus because the small number of commuter student spaces is taken.”
Only a select number of spaces, including those in the Rho and Fieldhouse lots, are open parking, regardless of permits.
Carpenter acknowledged that parking is “always a challenge.” However, he offered a rationale for the department’s position on the limited number of roadside spaces.
“We want to ensure that emergency vehicles have access to all buildings and fire hydrants,” he said. “Our top priority is to maintain the best environment for saving lives.”
He added that maintaining this environment takes precedent over all other citations, including permit violations.
Robert McKelvy, the deputy director of patrol/fire operations at DPS, explained the difference between the “letter of the law” and the “spirit of the law.”
“Our officers are told to always use discretion in making citations,” he said. “If a vehicle is two inches in the red zone, the ‘letter of the law’ says that it must be ticketed. But, the ‘spirit of the law’ says to consider all of the circumstances surrounding the event. We operate by the spirit of the law, taking issues like that on a case-by-case basis.”
Carpenter agreed.
“We do not operate on a ‘the law is the law’ basis,” Carpenter said. “Our division of the university exists to enforce safety, and we take our responsibility seriously.”
Carpenter also addressed the lack of general parking, citing Provost Darryl Tippens’ public announcement several weeks ago that 75 new spaces have been allocated at the road leading to the Drescher Campus and 35 new spaces at the upper and lower lots at the baseball field.
“We want students to take their own timeline into consideration,” McKelvy said. “The option is always there for students to arrive early and take the shuttle to class. On this campus, providing enough parking in areas that are close to their classes can never be achieved. But we continue to try to enhance the situation as best we can.”
Carpenter said that in order to continue this enhancement of parking, DPS takes regular tallies of parking and studies the situation on campus. Last Thursday, he said there were always anywhere from 16 to 18 open spaces near the baseball stadium throughout the day.
To further enhance on-campus parking, McKelvy invited student feedback on DPS regulations.
“There have been several recommendations made by students offering solutions to parking problems, and some have been implemented,” he said.
Junior Erin O’Connor received a parking ticket earlier this fall for parking in the loading area behind the new Center for Communication and Business before any regulatory signs were posted. She appealed her citation, and DPS repealed her ticket.
“I won,” she said. “They can’t give me a ticket if there are no signs.”
After a large number of citations were issued in the area, DPS opted to post appropriate “No Parking” signs behind the CBC.
Appealing a citation is ticketed students’ only way to resist paying a fine or having it charged to their student account. They must fill out an appeal form at DPS within five days for it to be considered.
“We always take appeals into consideration,” Carpenter said.
He also said he realizes that not all parking violations are intentional.
“Our aim is not to interrupt the education of students on this campus,” he said. “We want to work with the students and encourage them to meet with us if they have problems or concerns.”
October 31, 2002