Show A Hole t in My Soul 1 Robbing the Students of Parking Spaces By Nathan Nelson Editorial Editor My fiancee and I learned an unfortunate unfortunate unfortunate lesson in police enforcement this last week Aim that's my fiancee came out on one morning to find that someone had stolen her car stereo It was one of those things that made us both feel angry and hurt and violated all at the same time Plus its it's an expense that our little pending family cant can't afford right now Our big question was why didn't someone see it The apartment complex complex complex com com- plex where my fiancee lives is supposed supposed supposed sup sup- posed to have night watch-persons watch patrolling regularly The final episode of notwithstanding certainly someone should have reported it Now reality eventually hits Obviously Obviously Obviously there arent aren't enough officers to watch everything all the time and certainly our tragedy could have been much worse But it still gave us the feeling that everything we own is in danger of being stolen Like well we'll go to bed every night thinking Gee what's go going ng to wander off tonight Being robbed invariably leaves one with an injured sense of justice You pay hard-earned hard money so you youcan youcan can enjoy a fe few nice possessions and some lazy brainless thug comes along and decides to take it When that happens happens happens hap hap- pens you wonder where the police were when you really needed them Well I just happened to find out where the security guards were on our night of tragedy They were all down here at Salt Lake Community College helping to bust a notorious zone red-zone parking ring See the other half of the lesson we learned this last week was that parking parking parking park park- ing on the allegedly safe red zones of the college can earn you a 20 tick tick- et Believe me I know from personal hand first-hand experience What's more mine isn't an isolated ed incident either own Joe had an actual confrontation with a parking officer as documented by his letter on this page While the incident certainly earned him a spot on the Hole in my Soul Honor Roll Im I'm almost certain that Joe doesn't want to relive it The confusion surrounding the parking situation n is understandable On April 29 the Horizon received a memorandum from the office of Diana Bevan Parking Man Man- ager This is taken directly from the memo During construction we will allow parking on our red curbs as long longas as it is not a hazard and is not blocking blocking blocking block block- ing fire hydrants or access for other vehicles Hazardous areas areas have special special special cial striping and vehicles parked in those areas will be cited or towed The critical parts of the memo which seemed pretty simple and straightforward were reprinted in theMay the theMay theMay May issue of the Horizon Then officers started to issue citations for parking in the unmarked red zones and suddenly the situation was confusing confusing confusing con con- fusing all over again At first I assumed the problem was was lack of understanding on the part I cs 3 i f i j of the officers officers Here the distinction should be made between campus police and parking officers The former former former for for- mer are legitimate police officers who are assigned to and the latter are public safety officials meaning that parking people are little more than glorified crossing guards However the responsibility for the confusion lies in the Parking Managers Manager's Managers Manager's Manag Manag- ers er's office Another memorandum from Diana Bevan was sent out May five days AFTER the story ran in inthe inthe inthe the newspaper Italics are added to emphasize the differences During construction we will allow parking on our red curbs when and only when all lots are filled including those on the west side Not only is the change in policy logistically awful but the parking office didn't even bother mentioning the new memo to us so it could be noted in the Horizon The newspaper is the students' students source of campus news and nearly all offices including parking management are extremely lax on providing us information That aside adding the filled lots clause to the policy took an otherwise good idea and made it completely ridiculous How do the officers monitor monitor monitor moni moni- tor when the parking has reached capacity What happens when a student student student stu stu- stu- stu dent legally parks on a red curb and after a couple of hours the lots have emptied When Officer Friendly comes along and sees the vacant stalls will he ticket the driver even though he was completely within his right to park there a few hours before There are so many potential problems problems problems lems with the new changes its it's hard to believe that the parking office even bothered making them The rule should stand as it was originally presented presented presented pre pre- red curb parking is Oka okay y even if its it's for conveniences convenience's sake sake sakeI I know that's is i's a a lot Jot to to ask and this is the school that brought us such brilliant innovations as the softball- softball with softball But maybe they'll surprise us Best of all it should free up some of those rent-a-cops rent and we can get geta a little more security around the val val- val val- ley Maybe it will help prevent parts of my fiancees fiancee's car from wandering off Then again maybe the security I guards are getting paid to look the theother theother other way all things considered considered con con- I that's a can of worms Id I'd rather not open |