Police enforce mass towing

Early last month, Chief Willie Bell Jr. issued a campuswide memorandum through campus e-mail addressing the issue of parking on Vargrave Street. Five days later, the Department of Public Safety began enforcing a mass towing of violators on Vargrave. About 46 vehicles were towed in a 48-hour time frame. A week later, Vargrave Street was void of cars. So why are students continuing to park on Vargrave and not in their assigned lots? Why aren’t students buying decals? Wilson Hall’s parking lot has over 200 parking spaces, which stay filled, although only 144 decals have been issued for the lot. Rams Commons has about 425 spaces and only about 213 decals have been sold. Meanwhile, about 568 commuter decals have been sold. Cathy McGriff works for the Department of Public Safety for WSSU and is a former traffic officer. She said, “Parking is a problem on every campus, not just here. I haven’t been on a campus yet where people didn’t complain about parking.” Of the 16 constituent campuses of the University of North Carolina system, Winston-Salem State University is the third cheapest for parking. More than 5,000 tickets are given out each semester. “It’s the same ones getting tickets, [it’s] repeat offenders, not a whole lot of different people,” McGriff said. She also said that of the 144 decals sold to Wilson residents, “Many of them were just recently sold.” Over the past three or four years, surveys show that only about 100 or so Wilson students will by decals. McGriff thinks that the only reason many Wilson students are just beginning to buy their decals is because of the soon-to-be implement of the Wilson gate in which they will have to swipe their identification cards to enter. Once a student purchases a decal, their student I.D. card is validated, and the assigned gate will be accessible.According to Chief Bell, the gate will be available for use before April. The gates cost about $12,000, and they want to get them working as soon as possible. The implementation of the gates began when Rams Commons was built because, “That was private housing,” said Chief Bell. Last year was the first year that the faculty and staff had gates, and this year is the first for students. “I really think that next year is going to be the trying year,” said Chief Bell, because, “We’re getting ready for our next phase — to gate up a commuters lot.” Every student, including commuters, are able to have a parking space on this campus if they have a decal. The problem is that few people want to park in their assigned area, which in turn, causes problems. The gravel lot by the track is hardly ever full, but commuters choose to park in residence hall lots. The Rams Commons lot is never full, although those residents choose to park in the Wilson lot, forcing many of their residents to have no place to park in their own lot. Although, when the Wilson lot is full, “People can park anywhere on this campus as long as it is after 5 p.m. and your vehicle is removed by 8 a.m. the next morning,” said Officer Norris Gullick “The Ticket Man.” That is true not only for Wilson Hall residents, but everybody, as long as the space is not labeled “Reserved.” Officer James Lewis brought up another issue for thought. “I think the Rams lot should be interchangeable,” he said. Half of the spaces (more than 200) in that lot are available throughout the day. Perhaps commuters could park there, also. James said “At night, [commuters] are not here, and therefore it won’t affect Rams Commons residents.” Bell also had this in mind and said, “Next year we will survey and decide if we will sell [Commons lot decals] to commuters and Wilson residents.” So once the gates are working, all the parking problems will be solved then, right? According to Gullick, no, and they are already prepared for problems with students trying to break and tamper with the gates, so students should think twice before interfering because he says, “We have backups.”For students who are parking on Vargrave or in the Wilson lot instead of in their assigned one, because of safety (not laziness) issues, Bell wants to make people aware that there are digital cameras in the Rams Commons lot and Wilson’s lot will be receiving cameras shortly for safety and security issues. Brown Hall also has a camera showing all who enter and exit, as well as the lot. In addition, the student patrol runs Sunday through Thursday and students always have the police to call on. Stated in the memo concerning parking on Vargrave that Bell sent out, were the words, “We are having cars sideswiped … fire truck egress is being blocked … fire hydrant access is being blocked … and these are safety issues.” Although vehicles were parked on Vargrave Street the entire fall semester and the entire month of January with only a ticket as punishment, towed vehicles on Vargrave are certainly not unfamiliar with students now. It’s nearing the end of the semester, and those who do not have decals might be deterred from buying them for that very reason. What some students don’t know is that decals are pro-rated and are now only $35, and that price is decreasing. Unpaid citations can prohibit you from registering, receiving refund checks or graduating. Gullick said, “We’re trying to make it safe for all.”