General Etiquette > All In A Day's Work

We pay to park here! Rant

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Athos_000:
The company I work for rents office space from a university (which is very convenient for me since I attend grad school and also teach here). Part of our rental agreement is that the university provide parking for us since the parking situation is generally bad.

At the beginning of the semester they designated 10 parking spaces for our use (up from 5 last year), which usually meant that I was left with 1 or 2 free ones to park in, because the others were taken by rude, lazy students who will drive around and park here rather than park at the dorms and walk to class. Two days ago they decided we didn't need 10 parking spaces, and removed 8 of the "company parking only" signs. So now I have NO place to park, because of course the two left for me are stolen.

The university's solution to students parking in our spaces is to issue them a $10 ticket and withold their grades if they don't pay up. Eventually they pony up the money (or their parents do so they can get their grades/graduate), but $10 is worth it to most of them, and not seen as a deterrent to parking here. So the problem continues.

MY solution would be to charge them $50 and have their cars towed. It would only take one or two and the problem would disappear. No student wants to pay a towing bill on top of a $50 fine, and most parents would not be so willing to shell out the money for that one either.

I would like to lodge a complaint (again) with the campus security, but since today is the last regular day of class before finals begin next week, it seems a bit silly. I guess I will just wait until next semester when the problem resurfaces full force.  >:(

Thanks for letting me rant, I am much calmer now and can get back to work :)

Twik:
I'm not a lawyer, nor do I play one on TV, so take this with as much salt as necessary. However:
 
If you're paying rent, and the spaces are part of your company's lease, they are YOUR spaces, as far as I know. I don't see why the number of spaces you get can be arbitrarily changed by the university. If you signed for 10, and are paying for 10, you should get 10.

And since they are YOUR spaces, not the university's, you should be able to have people parking in them towed if necessary. I recommend your company check their contract before next term - if necessary, replace the signs with your own, and let the university know what your new policy is. As you say, after a few people get towed, the message should get around.

Athos_000:
That is a good idea. I think the terms are a bit more general (I don't know for sure, I am not privy to the rental arrangements even though at this point I am the only employee they affect). There are several companies renting space on campus and the spots are designated for all companies. I believe some of the companies in my building have moved to another building or off campus, which is why they cut down on the parking (to make more room for students I was told ... lol). *sigh* in the grand scheme of things it is nothing, but it tends to frustrate me to no end!

Twik:
OK, I can see if the number of spaces isn't officially specified in the lease, the university can make changes on the fly. However, I'd still check your lease - if you are promised, say, a minimum of 2 parking spaces, and they are occupied by students, you should be able to have them towed. In addition, you can tell the university you were promised parking - you may want to renegotiate the lease if they can't live up to that. Just because they're a university doesn't mean that they don't have to act like a business with their tenants.

RuneGuardian:
It's too bad you couldn't 'accidentally' key the cars of the students in question, but I think only in certain situations will a violation of etiquette resolve another violation of etiquette.

My school rents two apartment buildings for the students, and they've been having similar problems - with people parking in spaces not assigned to them. I believe we are allowed one parking space per apartment. Now people will get their cars towed if they're in someone else's spot. I'm sure it's been somewhat effective considering the payment for a tow probably is not exactly pocket change.

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