[ Golden Gater Online - November 13, 1997 ]
Leslie Fulbright Cruz
Staff writer
Students caught parking illegally recently may have discovered that the punishment hits their wallets a lot harder than it used to.
The fine for almost all parking tickets has almost doubled since the University Police Department raised its parking violation fines last month. Illegally parking at SF State now carries a fine of $55 up from $35.
Students are not happy with the UPD's decision to raise prices even though it was done to be in compliance with fines set by the city's Traffic Fines Bureau.
"I can't understand why they would raise the price for students," said Sara Torres, a SF State commuter. "I take turns driving to school with a guy in my class. We also take turns paying tickets. I get at least three tickets a month; that is half my rent."
Parking illegally on any San Francisco street still costs $35, but parking illegally on public grounds raises the fine to $55.
Students are particularly upset with the raise in fines because the university doesn't offer a program for students to perform community service instead of paying their fines. With the increase, the students feel this type of program is even more necessary.
"Thirty-five sucked already. Fifty-five is a hell of a lot to a college student," said SF State commuter Seamus Cowley.
According to the city code, public grounds include any public school, state university, state college, state park, county park, municipal airports, hospitals and other properties run by the government.
The increase in price is for every violation except parking illegally in handicapped zones, which carries a fine of $275. The $55 fine includes parking without a permit, parking illegally in staff/faculty and red zone areas.
The extra money will go into the SF State transportation account, which funds projects like the shuttle buses.
Tracy Tognetti, the university's citation processor, said that the university has a choice on the bail amount of the fine. They can match the bail amount with the amount the Department of Parking and Traffic uses or they can set their own.
"The city's schedule of parking fines changed in 1996," Tognetti said. "We just changed ours to match theirs."
But the policy is not being enforced at all San Francisco campuses. For example, City College of San Francisco's police department said its fines are staying in line with city charges, so their students and staff are paying $35 for illegal parking.
City College also considers their college an "open campus," so both the city's Department of Transportation and the university police ticket on campus. Therefore, the college says the fines are the same.
[ Golden Gater - November 13, 1997 ]