LVPD needs to find new pastime
Campus Times
March 26, 1999
Attention La Verne Police Department: Find something else, other than
writing parking tickets, to pass the time.
I am beginning to wonder if the reason the University of La Verne has
such bad parking problems and roped off areas is so the LVPD has something
to do.
Aside from having green-painted 20-minute spots and two-hour sections,
the residents of La Verne and their visitors cannot park on city streets
after 2 a.m.
Why does the city of La Verne have a law like that?
Those in charge of making the laws and upholding them will say it is
to make the city seem clean and to keep crime down. So cut the problem off
before it begins, works for me.
But ... I have a different theory.
With the high school troublemakers (i.e. skateboarders and rollerbladers
in the city of La Verne), and the students at ULV nestled quietly-for the
most part, in their dorms-the patrolling officers have to find a pastime.
And since Miss Donuts is being remodeled, the LVPD does its other favorite
thing.
It is the art of the quickest parking ticket draw in the West.
Yes, the LVPD has owned that honor since La Verne College became a university
in 1977.
What better way to meet a quota than to drive around the city looking
for those evil students and residents who park on the streets after 2 a.m.
Is that not a felony? How much time do these offenders spend behind
bars? Is it considered one strike?
OK, so the penalty is only $20, but it is the point of the matter.
The city of La Verne has huge streets. If the streets were as narrow
as a mountain trail, I could understand why parking on the streets, any
time, would be ticket worthy. But last time I checked, cars can pass each
other on any given street with enough asphalt space left to drive a tank
through.
Ahh yes, I forgot. Excuse me. I am so sorry. A person can park on the
streets after 2 a.m. Forget everything I just wrote. All one needs to do
in order to park after hours in La Verne is get a parking permit.
I was all wrong. And to think LVPD was overdoing it. No way. It is an
elite group which knows what it is doing. I mean, the city has set up a
plan in which anyone can park after hours for a mere $55 a year ($25 renewal)
or choose to purchase a single night at $2 a pop.
The reason those tickets are handed out is because the violators are
negligent. They are supposed to take matters in to their own hands when
an overnight stay is planned.
Hold on a minute. I just had another revelation. Did I just say planned?
Yes, I did. The only way to get a parking pass is to plan ahead. OK, now
what I just said about forgetting everything, forget that.
How in the world is someone going to plan an overnight visit if it is
spontaneous? Things happen in life (like drinking too much or a little romance)
when people have to stay at someone's house.
These events may occur in a New York minute or they could be on the
calendar for months. But to penalize citizens and visitors of this great
city just because they park on the streets without one of those parking
passes is ludicrous.
I have an idea. Why does the city not put parking meters up in every
spot within the La Verne borders? Instead of permits and time limits, drivers
would only have to worry about putting enough change into the meter.
If the city did that, those two old geezers who patrol ULV's campus
would have a reason to stick their noses and their ticket book in the parking
lot -- they would be checking the meters.
I understand that some officers will not be too happy to hear, er, read
my opinion about their job. But that is fine.
The parking after hours, or lack thereof, is one of the worst rules
I have ever had to follow; the others being the freeze bell in elementary
school and paying taxes. And even though I am painting a target on myself,
I had to do it. Besides, the target LVPD will now have for me is a whole
lot smaller than the one it sees when a car is on city streets after hours.
Greg MacDonald, a junior journalism major, is editor in chief of
the Campus Times. He can be reached by e-mail at gmacdona@ulv.edu.
