Parking citations make students, parents feel unwelcome
Does the City of Eugene Planning and Development’s Parking Administration have any decency? No! On Sept. 25, the day that University students officially began to move in, the Eugene parking police buggies gave citations to vehicles in the two-hour zones around the University residence halls. Are traffic fines the way the city wants to welcome the parents of the thousands of University students? Apparently so. The city ought to be ashamed of itself. Don’t the parents and students contribute enough money to the city’s economy to allow the city to not give them parking citations on the one day that is supposed to be fun and when students will be starting their new journey?
Although I was not a victim of Eugene’s Parking Nazis this time, I am still outraged. Both the city and the University have refused, and still refuse, to provide adequate parking space for the city’s and University’s population. I suspect they refuse to do the right thing because they see Eugenians and students as cash cows from whom they can reap hundreds of thousands of dollars every year. Does the city’s greed have no limits?
I have never lived in a city where the powers that be make its residents and visitors feel so unwelcome. I guess there really is a first for everything. I keep counting down the days until I graduate next year and leave this town. I’ll take myself and my money elsewhere.

Kevin Franken

Law