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

The views expressed in the Opinion section do not reflect the views of the Stroud Courier, its editorial board or East Stroudsburg University, but are solely the views of the author.