Travel the campus with a Parking Services veteran

It's a typical situation at URI. A student, usually a commuter, late for class or just too lazy to walk from the Keaney or Burnside lots, parks his or her car in a spot that, while much closer to his class, is also illegal.

A few hours later the student returns, only to find that parking services has tucked a bright yellow ticket under the car's wipers or has had the car towed across town.

One of the people responsible for making sure students comply with parking rules -- and punishing them if they don't -- is URI Security Officer Mark MacDonald.

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On any given day his responsibilities during the 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. shift that he works five days a week include issuing tickets, authorizing tows and assisting motorists.

Every day he and the four other Parking Services employees on the morning shift are assigned a section of campus, which they must patrol to check for illegally parked cars.

On Wednesday, he stepped out of the Parking Services trailer, located in the lot behind the information booth on Upper College Road, wearing a black hat and shirt, khaki pants and dark sunglasses. URI Parking Services was written across his hat in red. On the left breast of his shirt was an embroidered badge and on the right was "#44"-- his badge number.

Then the 13-year department veteran got into his patrol car, a vehicle similar to a police car, with blue and red lights across the top and marked "Security," and started on his route.

He headed first to the small lot between Bressler Hall and the Memorial Union, an area where MacDonald said he often writes a lot of tickets.

"This is a visitors' lot for the Union, but I bet 90 percent of these cars are students. It becomes a problem about 10 or 11 a.m. when the hair salon and other businesses are trying to get their people in here," MacDonald said.

He parked his car mid-lot and began to make his way down the lower row, checking for visitor's passes displayed in the windshield. As he predicted, most of the decals indicated that the cars belong to freshmen who probably live in Bressler. He also discovered two cars with something else in the windshield -- a note to Parking Services.

"Please do not ticket me. I am unloading things in the Union. I will be back in an hour," read one note.

MacDonald said notes are a common find and that he usually gives those people a few extra minutes to see if they are in fact moving things from their car or have another legitimate or pressing reason to be parked there. But if they don't return by the time he finishes the row, they get a ticket just like everyone else.

This morning, MacDonald spent a full hour writing 20 to 25 tickets -- $40 and $80 each -- for the cars in the Bressler lot alone. The higher tickets go to those people who have unregistered cars. The five Parking Services employees can write anywhere from a couple dozen to a couple hundred tickets per day and they come no where close to hitting every parking lot, an issue that has to do with understaffing, MacDonald said.

"We need at least four or five more people," MacDonald said.

It was 10 a.m. before he finished ticketing the lot and by the end, most of the lot had been cleared out by students from Bressler who had seen or been warned that tickets were being issued. Some were quick enough to get their cars out in time, while others were not so lucky. Another handful of drivers attempted to park in the lot. They pulled in, took one look at the car marked "Security" and left.

It can be a tough job, being seen as the enemy by so many students. "You got people yelling out their windows 'Don't you have anything better to do with your time?' But what they don't understand is that the reason why we are here is because they park like this," MacDonald said.

MacDonald said that he is also careful to hold faculty and staff members to the same parking standards as students.

"The same rules apply. Students are always the ones that get tickets. It's only in the past two to three years that staff have been getting tickets," MacDonald said.

For years, parking at URI has been seen as a problem, with many students blaming the school for not providing enough spaces. MacDonald disagreed.

"The biggest problem is people not parking in designated areas. They may not agree with the areas they are told to park in, but what happens is a domino effect. If everyone did what they were supposed to, we definitely wouldn't have any problems," MacDonald said.

After finishing the Bressler lot, MacDonald took a ride through Fraternity Circle, an area that he said is often a hot spot for illegal parkers. He then drove past Butterfield and down through Complex Road, which goes past Fayerweather Hall and Roger Williams Dining Hall.

He said he usually rides down this road twice; once to see what is there and then 15 minutes later to see if those cars have moved. If they haven't, they get a ticket.

MacDonald then drove through Burnside and up toward the library, pulling into the small lot diagonally across from Aldrich Hall.

"This is one area that I would rather let be unless someone is blocked in," said MacDonald, who also added that it is a common occurrence in that lot.

He backed out and headed down to Lower College Road, took a right at the intersection to go past Heathman and turned right onto Flagg Road. He took another right into the Chafee lot and went around the rotary. He stopped, parked his car and went over to chat with a couple of his fellow Parking Services attendants who were writing tickets.

Smoking a cigarette, he talked for a few minutes and then agreed to stay and have a couple of cars towed from Flagg Road while the others went off to write more tickets. MacDonald said the reason these cars would be towed is because they were parked on the painted lines and blocked the view of anyone trying to pull out of Chafee.

MacDonald said most cars are not towed if they are parked in between two white lines in a parking area. But those who make their own spots, along with people who fake parking decals, block other people in or try to pawn off old tickets as today's in the hopes that Parking Services will pass over them, will be towed.

MacDonald went to his car and reached through the open window to get something. It was a pad of paper with a checklist that he must complete before any car is towed. On it he must record any cosmetic damage that is evident on the car so that the owner cannot blame the towing company.

Within minutes a bright red truck from J and D West Kingston Towing showed up, hoisted the first car, a green Pontiac, and hauled it away. About 10 minutes later, the tow truck returned and removed the second car, a gold Toyota. The owner of the third car returned before the tow truck and escaped with only a ticket, completely unaware of her planned fate. When the tows were completed, MacDonald drove up to the church parking lot to authorize one last tow, a blue Volkswagen parked in a fire lane.

Ready for a break, MacDonald returned to the Parking Services trailer around 11 a.m. He only stepped inside for a moment when he received a call to assist a motorist. So he headed back out to his car, the intended break already forgotten. It was back to work and back to keeping parking lots clear, motorists safe and drivers obeying the rules.