Fixing the Parking Problem One Quarter at a Time
Anna Daly/ Managing Editor
anna_daly@pipeline.owens.edu

In an effort to improve parking conditions at the Toledo Campus, Owens will be installing 92 parking meters Feb. 1.
The parking meters will take the place of visitor parking on campus. Visitor and 30 minute parking, intended to be spaces reserved for those who need to make a quick visit to campus, are often abused by people leaving vehicles parked there all day. In turn, visitors must fill the long-term parking lots, making parking for students and faculty increasingly difficult.
Parking meters will operate with quarters or tokens at 25 cents for one hour with a maximum of two hours. If a meter runs out of time, the vehicle owner will be assessed a $20 fine.
Dr. Bill Ivoska, Vice President of Student Services, stressed that placing parking meters on campus is not a means of costing the students more money. He said, “Our problem is monitoring and regulating visitor and 30 minute spots. This is to help students, not to make money. We’re not trying to take advantage.”
Actually, the College will make very little profit from the parking meters. The total cost is approximately $26,000 to buy and install and all 25 cent coins and expired meter tickets will go toward refunding the initial cost.
Julee Cope, Chief of Safety and Security expressed the importance of safe and respectful parking to improve the parking problems at the Toledo Campus. “So many times people need to run in quickly [to a building], but they have no where to park. Parking meters are a solution. This is not a moneymaker. That’s not what this is for.”
Cope and Ivoska also encourage students and faculty to make use of the Campus Area Transit System (CATS) which runs Monday through Thursday from 7:30 a.m. to 5:10 p.m.
CATS was instituted to relieve the parking problem at Owens. The Toledo Campus has 3,374 public parking spaces and on the busiest time of the week, Wednesday at noon, only 3,076 are filled. Students may park in the open lots by the library and Audio Visual Classroom Center (AVCC) and ride CATS across to College Hall and Health Technologies.
Parking meters are already purchased and heads will be installed Feb. 1.

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