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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 10, 1995)
METERS Continued from Page 1 — although Roberts said that vs as the first lime anyone had been so abusive to him in the two week* he's been working for the Offii »> of Public Safety Other officers agreed that the abuse comes and goes m spurts "Some days, there's not am confrontation* whatsoever,” said senior psv< hology major Kathryn Bates, another OPS offii er nn the parking detail. Sometimes, she said, a whole week or more will go by But <il other times, the argu ments come one after another Bates, who has been enforcing parking rules for the l ist four months, said she has been on the detail longer than most anyone at OPS In that time, she's had quite a few incidents w ith unhap py parkers. One time, she was t iting four men whose vans wen* parked in the EMI visitors' lot "They became very verbally abusive when I was by myself in this lot, and I had to call the Eugene city police" for backup, she said. Although such im idents .ire rare, she said she still doesn’t understand why people get so nasty, especially when they're asking an officer to forget about a ticket. ''If you want someone to do you n favor, you don't get abu sive," she said. Heidi Wall utt. another part time ()PS employee who enfon es the parking nilev saiii that it isn't just harsh words that meter read ers hove to look out for. "1 was nearly run over one time by somebody trying to avoid a ticket." she said. The man she was ticketing sped out of the (larking lot before she could give hint a ticket, apparently believ ing that if he didn't take the cita tion. it didn't count. Hm as any parking officer will explain, that’s not the way it works Oni »* a utation is entered into the handheld computer that each officer carries, it cannot be repealed by the offn »r, no mat ter how hard the violator begs and pleads. If a person runs up to feed the meter or to drive away before the tic ket is finished, however, officers can decide to issue a warning instead of a citation But that decision depends in part on whether the officer thinks a warning will keep the violator from repeating the onettse "I'm out thora to educate thorn, and it I can give them a warning and they won’t do again. I’d rather do that." Hates Mid Kven though some violators t si ape without n tit ket. there are still 30,000 to 40.000 tickets handed out each year, au ording to Rand Stamm, parking program coordinator for OPS With that many tickets being issued, many people think that parking officers are “out to get them “ Hut that's not the way it is. the parking officers sav “One of the main reasons we issue citations, especially for improper parking, is to inform people of safety hazards," Wal cutt said, “not to go out to meet some kind of quota ” liven w hen safety issues aren’t dins tly involved, such as when a parking meter expires the off! cers still think it’s important to enforce the regulations Bates said the money that is raised through parking meters and fines goes to support other services that students benefit from, including hike registration that allows a stolen bicycle to lie returned to its rightful ow ner Besides. 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Check uur Pizza menu for uur tpriial 1 otnnin<i(ion». tall 686 2739 to reserve k**gs 'Additional charge lor deposits STH 6 PLARL • fc'UiENK for a [wrjon to park in a metered space without paving t>«*< a use that moans another person can't park there With 20.000 people working or attending classes at the University, the rules must be enforced to make room for everyone Unfortunately, knowing that doesn’t always make it easy for officers to issue tickets I'm an easy-going person." Roberts said "f don't like to 1m? the enemy Still, he said. "I found out early that you can't give every* body a break They'll tost take CARDS Continued from Page 1 paper inserts, to full-page ad*, eight half-page ads and three quarter page ads in the Emerald solic iting *tu* dents to sign up for credit card*, according to the Emer ald* advertising department I cash?" ho sait! "it's a real temptation " White. 27, said he believes the credit card tom pantos see student* as "easy targets" especially younger students who may not be as responsi ble or have a lot of exponent e managing their ft names However. Dixon stud, We IQttbank) have found out that college students handle their credit as well or better than our other card holders.“ Dixon also pointed out that Citibank won't hand out "huge lines of t redtt “The average credit line is $000 to St.000." he said The minimum we approve is $500 " Dixon said on campus pro motions are mow effective than direct mail campaigns Mni t* most college students move around a lot . " With < redit being so easy to ai i ess. it's important for stu dents to know it's their responsibility to know what they're getting into, Leopold said "You really have to shop," she said You really need to do research ” Lauren Anderson, a senior Finn Arts major, said she thought she could get away with just paying her mini' mum balance mi h month until she realized she wasn't getting ahead "It s better to pay your hill off at the end of the month " she said Anderson has one < ledit card and Leopold said that's all a student realty needs w hile they 're in school, Anderson, 21. said the responsibility lies in the indi vidual card holder to know about credit, but said the advertising can fw dot eivtng You havu to read the fine print," she said John l* White, a senior Spanish major, said some time* the temptation to charge is too great "What happens when someone is realty hard up for advantage of you Although .in officer i annot “undo" a tu ket a (tor it is issued, violators do have some rt« ourse Stamm, the parking coordina tor. said that people who think they were cited unfairly can appeal the tic kct to on indepen dent traffic petition officer — a person who doesn't work for OPS He can either cancel, reduce, or affirm the citation If the offii er determines that the tii kei should remain, that decision can then he brought before an appeals board for a final hearing If the to ket is again upheld, the violator has no choice but to pay the fine However, in one three month period, around “0 pen out of all petitions were either i are el ml or reduced Statistics like that don’t always do much to i aim down someone w ho’s irate about being ticketed, however “At that point, they're not interested in listening. Bates said To keep a person from getting madder, officers try to refrain from arguing, instead employing tai tics designed to “tie esi elate" a confrontation Said Roberts ’Basically, you just gotta agree with them and soy you're sorry " iiixuit said hi' was 20-years old when ho first got a i red it card "i was pretty tons* tendons in paying on mv balance, keeping it fairly low White said He now has four i ro<lit i ards Leopold said the average age of the CCLS client is I»etween 2H and la years-old She said one of the most com mon reason* people < nine to them for help is I menu so jm«o pIe work on such tight bud fpfi When emergent ins < ome tip. it s hard to cope financial ly She said tile best way for students to avoid those situa tions is to do their research in advance ami to be good money managers Leopold talks to students from high schools and univer sities idkhit die importance of good money management She spoke at a money man agement disi ussion at the ASUO Women’s ( enter last week Come Celebrate Valentine’s Cay at SfXS%}.\l mS • l < ts 11 dccr prices ti be aiven away! • 4 < me and set ytur Valentines! Cover Charge when you come in between to t*> pm unU midnight on February I 1th SCAND4IS 2222 Omenta! lihd • M V-fn i 2222 Centenial Blvd. • 343-4734
