Expect an increase in yellow tickets at the R-16 and R-15 faculty lots in the coming weeks.

Due to a recent spike in illegal parking, Parking Services enforcement will be focusing on the R-16 lot near White Hall and the R-15 lot near the Auditorium in hopes of opening up the areas for easier faculty access.

Faculty members have been unable to find parking spaces in recent weeks because of illegal student parking, forcing Parking Services to take action, Parking Services supervisor Loretta Nichols said.

While illegal parking also has been a problem at the R-7 lot between Bowman and Satterfield halls and at the Student Center visitor lot, faculty members have been calling Parking Services dispatch to complain about the R-15 and R-16 areas, Nichols said.

“Anytime from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. people are waiting around White Hall – eyeing up spots to pull into,” part-time education instructor Joan Rogers said. “People are always angry and yelling at each other for grabbing spaces that they wanted.”

Nichols said the R-16 White Hall lot and R-15 Auditorium lot have been the worst parking areas on campus in terms of congestion.

“Students have been blocking traffic by driving around those lots and waiting for spaces to open up,” Nichols said.

Nichols explained that as many as 17 parking tickets have been written in a half-hour at White Hall, most just before 3 p.m. However, many students seem to be disregarding parking violation notices, rolling up the tickets and forgetting them on dashboards.

“When we tow the cars from those parking lots, we see a lot of tickets and tow warnings inside the vehicles,” Nichols said. “A lot of students just don’t read the warning stickers we put on their windows.”

Parking Services has had problems with students from Olson and Lake halls leaving their cars overnight inside the Student Center visitor lot, but Nichols said campus police has been taking care of the violators.

“Students have until 3 a.m. to get their cars out of the lot before the police come in and begin writing tickets,” Nichols said.

According to the Parking Services Web site, the Student Center visitor lot is open from 7 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., but vehicles can still exit the visitor lot after it closes.

For more information on parking lot availability, visit Parking Services online at http://www.kent.edu/parking/.

Contact transportation reporter Dave Yochum at [email protected].