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Students defeat new 'Barnacle' parking clamp, skip fines and get free internet

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Re: Students defeat new 'Barnacle' parking clamp, skip fines and get free internet

#221

Post by cortesoft »

yjftsjthsd-h wrote: post #152
cortesoft wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, you have to draw the line somewhere. Do we pay for all food students eat? The clothes they wear? The houses they live in? The cars they drive? Obviously not... some schools might provide some of those things, but all schools will draw the line somewhere (I don't know of any schools that provide clothing) Why is it anymore of a slippery slope to say "the college won't subsidize student parking" than "the college…

Because one of those is a result of attending. If the college required a uniform, it might be reasonable for them to provide it.

You aren't required to park to attend

Re: Students defeat new 'Barnacle' parking clamp, skip fines and get free internet

#222

Post by anoncake »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #173
yjftsjthsd-h wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because one of those is a result of attending. If the college required a uniform, it might be reasonable for them to provide it.

Colleges generally do require you to wear clothes to class.

That "requirement" doesn't make a difference. Society already requires you to generally wear clothes in public.

Re: Students defeat new 'Barnacle' parking clamp, skip fines and get free internet

#223

Post by danaris »

francisofascii wrote: post #209
danaris wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's great for urban campuses. But what about suburban and rural ones? Also: Great, you've got the students covered. What about the faculty and staff? They just have to pay "market rate" for the privilege of parking at their own damn jobs? (Full disclosure: I work on a rural college campus, where there are chronic problems with parking, and an administration that cares far more about the campus being beautiful than…

A walk on a beautiful campus while going to work does not sound all that terrible. To your point, including free or reduced cost parking for staff and not students sounds reasonable.

Possibly not, but try walking

- Half an hour

- Uphill most of the way (the college is built on the side of a hill)

- In the winter when there's 4 inches of snow on the ground, and the temperature is below 0°F

- And then having to start your job making only a few dollars an hour more than the students who get to sit there and do their homework while on-shift, and having to do parts of two other people's jobs too because turnover is so high

The beauty becomes a background after a while...and yes, as you can see, the college does have other problems that make the parking issue seem much less significant. (I'm fortunate enough that the job I was describing was not mine, but it's not only real, it's far from unique here.)

Re: Students defeat new 'Barnacle' parking clamp, skip fines and get free internet

#224

Post by javiramos »

quaquaqua1 wrote: post #197
emptybits wrote: post #183

I spent a decade in the parking technology space. (Co-founder PayByPhone -- don't hate me, I genuinely tried to make things more civilized and convenient, I swear!). Anyways, I miss hearing about hilarious and genius hacks and escalations like this. The brilliance deployed to work around parking regulations is amazing. Not condoning, but here's a (naive?) though experiment if the Barnacle shows up in use again... Par…

The problem is not paying for the parking I use. That is an easy problem to solve, as long as the price is "reasonable". The problem I have with parking authorities is fraud. When the meter employee gives me a ticket for a different meter, or when the parking ticket fine is $200 instead of say $30, or when the restrictions are absurd/vague ("You can park here for 2 hours m-f except holidays except 9-11 except in gree…

The other day I went to a concert and parked my car at a parking lot. When the concert ended, of course there were masses of people trying to exit the parking lot. There were only 2 cashiers to pay the parking ticket — no automated machines. So we waited over an hour to pay our ticket. Time that we ended up paying with our ticket (per hour parking). The cashier didn’t want to refund us for the waiting time. If the law doesn’t require any standards requiring waiting times — why would a parking operator ever be incentivized to have an efficient checkout system? Especially if they are the only parking in town. Anyways lots of sketchy consumer violations in this space.

Re: Students defeat new 'Barnacle' parking clamp, skip fines and get free internet

#225

Post by takk309 »

pix64 wrote: post #213
jlarocco wrote: post #203

Am I the only one who thinks this is wrong? An alternative headline could be something like, "Entitled College Kids Learn How To Keep Parking Like Assholes Without Paying Fines." And it's a pyrhic victory anyway, because chances are now the cars will get one of the metal tire boots put on, or get towed. Both of which are more expensive and a bigger hassle for everybody.

I don't know the situation, but I could easily imagine parking violations being common where parking is inadequate. Instead of improving the situation, the school simply rakes in money.

This really depends on the state. In Montana, for example, it is a legal requirement that parking is funded separate from the rest of the school. This means that no tuition can pay for new lots or enforcement. Fees gathered from normal parking rates and fines are used only to maintain and/or improve the parking.

Re: Students defeat new 'Barnacle' parking clamp, skip fines and get free internet

#226

Post by cortesoft »

mikequinlan wrote: post #157
cortesoft wrote: post #26

> Obviously, some students thought that fee was ridiculous – just like paying for parking at a university where you’re already paying a hefty tuition fee I hate parking fees as much as the next person, and totally appreciate the creativity of the people who defeated this device. However, how should we handle distributing a limited number of parking spaces when there are more people who want to park than available spa…

Why is the University allowed to accept tuition from more students than it has parking spaces? How would a student unable to park be able to attend classes? I can see using parking fees to allocate more desirable parking spaces, but effectively preventing tuition paying students from being able to attend classes is not acceptable (my opinion).

It is quite interesting that you seem to think driving your own car is the only way to get to school.

Re: Students defeat new 'Barnacle' parking clamp, skip fines and get free internet

#227

Post by chiefalchemist »

cortesoft wrote: post #120
chiefalchemist wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I hate parking fees as much as the next person, and totally appreciate the creativity of the people who defeated this device. However, how should we handle distributing a limited number of parking spaces when there are more people who want to park than available spaces? This isn't a parking problem. At its root, this is a personal transportation,public transportation and/or cultural issue. Demand for numerous thing…

Well part of making that progress is making the status quo (driving your car to school) slightly more inconvenient by charging to park. That will encourage other modes of transportation.

I agree. But slightly isn't working. So perhaps it's time to revisit the possible solutions?

fwiw, last year I read Alchemy: The Dark Art and Curious Science of Creating Magic in Brands, Business, and Life

He makes the case, numerous time for rethinking the approach to problem like this.

https://www.amazon.com/Alchemy-Curious-Science-Creating-Busi...

Re: Students defeat new 'Barnacle' parking clamp, skip fines and get free internet

#228

Post by anoncake »

dreamcompiler wrote: post #169
cortesoft wrote: post #26

> Obviously, some students thought that fee was ridiculous – just like paying for parking at a university where you’re already paying a hefty tuition fee I hate parking fees as much as the next person, and totally appreciate the creativity of the people who defeated this device. However, how should we handle distributing a limited number of parking spaces when there are more people who want to park than available spa…

Universities are incentivized to build buildings and destroy parking areas, because buildings make money and parking lots don't. Thus most universities are parking-constrained. The solution is to change that incentive structure, not to ration ever-dwindling parking spaces.

A university incentivized to educate students and do research will do the same because buildings are more suitable for these purposes than parking lots.

Re: Students defeat new 'Barnacle' parking clamp, skip fines and get free internet

#229

Post by Wooo0pdaddy »

angry_octet wrote: post #112
bredren wrote: post #98

My SUS company, EasyALPR focuses on commercial parking enforcement / vehicle control. First, the people who get "in trouble" are often absolutely brazen in their unfair use of common parking. They're warned multiple times and even when given a "last chance" notice they'll just keep breaking rules. At that point you have to TOW them. And let me tell you, a TOW is something you can't lampoon or get free internet off of…

[flagged]

lol! you have to be kidding!

so poor people don't have to follow rules? bet you think immigrants don't have to follow immigration laws either.

gold! lol!!!

Re: Students defeat new 'Barnacle' parking clamp, skip fines and get free internet

#230

Post by hanniabu »

javiramos wrote: post #224
quaquaqua1 wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is not paying for the parking I use. That is an easy problem to solve, as long as the price is "reasonable". The problem I have with parking authorities is fraud. When the meter employee gives me a ticket for a different meter, or when the parking ticket fine is $200 instead of say $30, or when the restrictions are absurd/vague ("You can park here for 2 hours m-f except holidays except 9-11 except in gree…

The other day I went to a concert and parked my car at a parking lot. When the concert ended, of course there were masses of people trying to exit the parking lot. There were only 2 cashiers to pay the parking ticket — no automated machines. So we waited over an hour to pay our ticket. Time that we ended up paying with our ticket (per hour parking). The cashier didn’t want to refund us for the waiting time. If the la…

While I agree that's a hassle, I don't think this should result in a refund. It's like ordering dinner, eating it, and then wanting a refund for the meal because you waited a long time for the meal.
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