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Wednesday, february 18, 1976
page 6
daily nebraskan
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third
parking
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Unpaid parking tickets no longer
cancel student's preregistration
By Terri Willson
"We are sorry to trouble you with this reminder during
the holiday season, but in accordance with university
policy, your financial obligation to the university must be
cleared before the start of the spring semester if you are
to continue as a student at UNL.
We wish you and yours .a happy holiday and a
prosperous and successful new year."
. Students who did not respond to their first notice of
failure to pay a parking fine received this holiday
reminder from John Baier, associate dean of student
development and student affairs.
"The end of first semester was always a bad time for
students," said Jane Baack, director of the office of
student development and student affairs. Because of
Christmas expenses and other expenses, parking debts
offen were ignored, she said.
Before the 1975-76 academic year, the office of
student development and student affairs could cancel a
student's preregistration or hold his registration if parking
fines were not paid by the first day of a new semester,
Baack said.
Before a student's registration was affected, the
student was sent several notices that if his unpaid parking
tickets were not taken care of, he could not register,
nor receive a diploma or transcript.
Students receive three warning notices before a hold
is put on their registration, Baack said. For the
registration to be reinstated, a $10 fee must be paid to the
UNL bursar.
Baack said that payment schedules may be worked
out with the Campus Police or with the bursar, as long as
the student informs the university of his financial
difficulties.
Since last fall, Campus Police has taken over the job of
collecting money for parking violations.
The change was made, Baack said, because parking
violations are non-academic and involve not only tudents,
but faculty-and staff members as well.
Students may appeal parking tickets to the Parking and
Traffic Appeals Committee.
This committee of three faculty members and three
students meets twice monthly to hear complaints from
those who think they have been unfairly ticketed.
Don Shaneyfelt, assistant dean of the College of Law
and member of the appeals committee, said only about
one in ten of the cases appealed are found to be unfair.
If the person appealing the ticket is ;stil dissatisfied
after a committee vote, he may take, his complaint to the
Parking Advisory Board, Shaneyfelt said.
The board of students and faculty members advises the
administration concerning parking needs,, regulations and
fines; said Hal Allen, chairman of the board and informa
tion officer for the University Extension Division.
The board welcomes suggestions and complaints from
the university community, Allen said.
. UNL ombudsman, Allan Dittmer, said he has not had a
student complaint about parking for approximately 6
weeks.
He explained that perhaps some of the suggestions
concerning parking which he gave to John Duve, parking
coordinator, may be the reason for the drop in
complaints.
These suggestions included:
-A printed schedule of parking enforcement hours
, -Reducing the fee from $5 to $1 if the student pays
a ticket within 24 hours.
-Placing drop boxes on the campus to allow students
to pay their fines without going to the Campus Police
office.
Only the first suggestion has been implemented thus
far, he said.
town
udents go down
for more parking spapes
By Nancy Qark
City parking spaces provide little relief for the student
in need of a parking space.
Off-street parking is almost filled by 9 a.m. and other
parking spaces are full by 10 a.m., according to Dean
Leitner, Lincoln Police Dept. (LPD) insepctor.
"We find that students and (downtown) employes are
primarily responsible for the problem," he said. "They try
to extend the time on the meters, which defeats their
whole purpose. The meters were Installed to provide a con
stant turnover (in the parking spaces)," Leitner explained.
It is illegal to extend the parking meter time in a limit
ed time zone, he said. Though the department is "string
ently enforcing" this regulation, Leitner added, violations
still occur.
' It is difficult to discourage violations because it is less
expensive for a person to extend the parking tim$ and pay
the citation than it is to purchase an off-street parking
space, Leitner said.
A parking citation costs $1 if it is paid within five days
and $2 If it is paid between five and fifteen days.
A check of four downtown private parking lots
showed that parking rates vary from 40 to 50 cents for
the first hour of parking and 20 cents for each additional
hour. In lots where monthly rates were available, the rates
ranged from $22 to $30.
By "feeding" a meter all day long, a person is prevent
ing at least eight other people from using that space,
according to a recent LPD survey, Leitner said.
There are 3316 on-street parking spaces in Lincoln,
Leitner said. Approximately 1,700 of these are in the
downtown area and are metered, he added. He estimated
that there are approximately 1,500 private parking spaces
in the downtown area.
The downtown area runs from G to R Sts. and from
6th to 21st Sts.
In 1975, LPD issued over 100,000 parking tickets to
local residents, Leitner said. By January 1976, the depart
ment had issued approximately 2,500 warrants for unpaid
citations, he added. '
A special squad has been formed to serve the warrants.
"Once the word got around hundreds of people volun
tarily came in and disposed of their unpaid tickets,"
Leitner said.
Although !?t?rS R!T not 8 rof!tbl operation for (he
city, Leitner said, they are the only means available to
attempt "to provide fair and equal parking."
ENTRANCE
f i Hi$k rise lol
I -
i
Could elephant trains
replace rhino boots ?
Jane Baack, director of UNL's office of student
development and student affairs, said elephant trains
are used on California campuses to solve the problem
cf limited parking space.
Elephant trains are little open-air, zoo-like carts
which transport people around campus, site said.
Students and faculty members park their cars on the
edge of the campus and travel from class to class in the
elephant trains.
While California uses the elephant trains to prevent
destruction of Redwood trees to make space for park
ing lots, they could be used at UNL to prevent further
construction of parking lots at the expense of campus
iandscaplng, she said.
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