
Photo Credit / Kathleen Kraemer
Kathleen Kraemer
Editor-in-Chief
Hello, my name is Katie and I got my very first parking ticket on Monday.
It is a $15 ticket and I do not intend to pay it.
I parked in a yellow striped spot in the parking lot behind Laurel Residence Hall. The spot next to the dumpster. A spot out of the way, that doesn’t really bother anyone.
Except for the parking patrol. They care a lot.
I am a senior commuter student, meaning I drive to school every day.
I pay $55 per semester in order to be permitted to park on campus.
I am totally okay with paying this small fee in order to park, because I understand that the money is used for important things like lot maintenance and snow cleanup.

What I am not okay with is the lack of available parking spaces on campus.
Most days when I arrive at the school for my 11 a.m. class or 10 a.m. meetings I am unable to find a spot that I am permitted to park in.
Not down campus in the pit, not further up at the library or at Fine Arts. Not a single spot.
I pay to park on campus, and if there is no parking I am forced to park off campus, park illegally, or park at a meter.
I am not going to park off campus, because I paid to park on campus and that is ridiculous.
The meters on campus are run by East Stroudsburg’s Borough and charge $1 per hour, so on days that I have 4 hours of class I end up spending $4 to park.
If I have to park at a meter every day I have those classes, it adds up to $180 for the semester.
I pay $55 to park on campus and if I am forced to pay an additional $180 to park at a meter because there are no other legal parking options on campus, what sense does that make?
I am a poor college student. I cannot afford that.
So, I resolved to take a chance and park in a spot that is not technically a spot.
I understand that its illegal, and I understand why I got the ticket, but the issue is that I would not have parked illegally if there were an available legal spot for me to park in.
I am not the kind of person who will park illegally to avoid walking down campus from Fine Arts.
I’m the kind of person who will park illegally because I paid $55 for a permit to park on campus and there are no legal parking spots available on campus.
So, with all this in mind, it is any wonder that I have no plan to pay this $15 parking ticket?
Email Kathleen at:
kkraemer2@live.esu.edu