Delta enforces parking fees, leading to campus confusion due to staffing shortage
Students who paid for parking fees meant to fund parking lot pothole repairs are confused about the enforcement of the parking pass policy.
The campus safety office is enforcing the matter and it’s the first semester charging for parking since we reopened campus after the pandemic. In the beginning of the semester, the administration emphasized that you could only purchase the pass online and those who don’t have one are subject to fines. Seeing that students aren’t getting punished for having no pass causes students to not buy the pass until they see action.
Police Chief Robert Di Piero reassures that they’re still charging for parking but the staffing shortages at the safety office contributes to them not ticketing people all the time.
“Parking enforcement is predominately handled by Campus Safety Officers and Student Service Officers in between their calls for service. The department has been dealing with staff shortages.” Di Pero said.
Joseph Delgado is the sergeant in charge of the parking programs, despite the confusion, according to him the parking policy has remained the same.
“Since the college implemented fee-for-semester and daily parking permits (24/25 semester), we have seen a 90 percent success rate and an increase in revenue to support the rehabilitation of our parking lots,” Delgado said, “That said, we will continue our success with the program in the upcoming years and there has been no changes to the policy.”
However, students who come to campus need clarification about the whole parking policy in general.
Different machines aren’t working, pot holes still exist without any plan on when the funding would fix it, and some students think Delta could have handled this better.
Chief Di Piero confirms that some machines aren’t working but doesn’t specify the exact location. “We are aware that some machines are down. When the machines go down our staff try and repair them if we are unsuccessful, we have to contact our repair service. Students do have the option of buying a paperless daily permit online,” he said.
Second-year student, Logan Crabb, disagrees with the fees and said he hasn’t purchased a parking pass yet.
“I haven’t purchased one. I know people around campus who don’t have one and I don’t plan to get one until I see someone getting a ticket for not having one. I see cars all over the lot with no pass and they haven’t even started repairing the pot holes. The whole situation is a mess,” Crabb said. “Instead of charging students for parking, the administration should focus on upgrading campus first.”
He alluded to the constant internet problems and the mistreatment for disabled students trying to use different things around campus like elevators and ramps.
Crabb isn’t the only student who is criticizing how Delta is enforcing the parking fee. Haley Ochoa bought a parking pass at the beginning of the year and thinks the rules set in place should be enforced
“I come to school Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. I’ve seen people with no passes and they don’t have any consequences which makes me feel like I wasted $30…. it makes no sense why they don’t ticket people. I think it has to be a lack of resources on their end, maybe they don’t have enough officers to enforce the rule,” Ochoa said.
