Unpaid campus tickets can lead to the nasty yellow boot

Oh, the woes of parking at Johnny Hop.

A recurring question for every new student and every returning student is, "Should I bring my car?" Sure, we would all love to have our cars right around the corner waiting for us every time we feel like we're going nuts and want to get the hell off this campus for awhile. The fact of the matter is, the number of students who are bringing their cars is increasing every semester and parking is at a premium.

According to Ray Infussi, the head of the Parking Department at the Homewood Campus, an undergraduate can obtain a parking permit if he/she is carrying a load of at least 12 credit hours, and also if he/she has proof of residence outside of a one mile radius from campus. There are five lots provided for students who have parking permits: The S Lot, also known as the Hall of Fame lot; the R Lot, located behind the Owen House; the F Lot, located behind Bloomberg; the T Lot, located behind Garland; and the Valley Lot, which Infussi noted is commonly referred to as the Loser Lot.

There are four main ways to attain an on-campus parking ticket. If you park in a faculty space, a handicap space, a service vehicle space, or a loading zone, you will inevitably find a beautiful little piece of paper hugging your windshield when you return to your car. Most parking tickets are $20, and the handicap-violation parking tickets run up a bill of $50.

So what happens if you decide not to pay your on-campus parking tickets? Infussi explained that if you have more than two outstanding parking tickets that are at least two weeks old (and are not being appealed at the time), then your car has the likelihood of getting the boot when found, whether you're currently parked legally or not. The officer on patrol runs all of the plates of the cars in the lot, whether or not the meter is paid or the car is parked legally. If your car comes up on their list of outstanding fines, that lovely yellow contraption will be attached to your wheel.

When asked what would happen if you had more than two outstanding parking tickets but your car was not scanned on campus, Infussi commented, "At this point in time, we are not going to any outside sources to assist us in tracking down these drivers. We are not handing the matter over to the Baltimore police, and we are not at this time taking the fine out of the student's tuition."

Off-campus parking, though, is not so promising. The matter of tickets there is the job of Baltimore Police, and they are not afraid to tow your car. There is also the problem of where to park, and if you're lucky enough to find a parking space, it may only be legal for a period of two hours.

According to sophomore Jenny Farrelly, who has had her car at Hopkins all year, you can park on Charles St. at any time other than between the hours of 4 and 6:30 p.m. If the police happen to find your car there then, they won't be nice enough to leave you a ticket. They'll just tow your car, no questions asked.

You can park on University 24-hrs. a day, even though you will have to walk a short distance, and you can also park on the north end of Greenway all day.

The south end is another story, only allowing two-hour parking. Apparently, they are ruthless with tickets on Greenway. Meter tickets usually run $20 each, and if you don't pay your ticket, your car will get the boot. If the boot doesn't motivate you to pay your tickets, you'll get towed.

You can also park in front of The Charles, Wolman Hall and McCoy Hall 24-hrs. a day, but there is seldom a spot available. Those who find them are usually reluctant to give them up.

Simply finding a parking space is not the only problem. Farrelly commented, "It's not so much finding a space that I'm concerned with. There is always the threat of my car being vandalized or stolen, and if it's parked in front of Wolman or McCoy, there's always the possibility of students coming back drunk from parties who think it would be fun to trash someone's car."

So, off-campus parking is available: If you're willing to devote 20 min. to finding a space every time, you will usually be successful.

The only thing to watch out for would be missing cars. If you walk to where your car was parked and it has suddenly disappeared, chances are it wasn't actually stolen. More often than not, it was towed, even though the police department fails to notify you.

According to one student, she couldn't find her car and assumed it was stolen. She called the Baltimore Police to see if it was towed, and they told her repeatedly that it was not and urged her to fill out a crime report. The next day, they notified her that, actually, it had been towed. It's good to know that the Baltimore Police Department is always looking out for Hopkins drivers.