Day 16- Parking

Dear UNL,

     Oh, UNL, let us take a moment to shake our heads at you.  Among the several things we would like to change on campus, parking is towards the top.  We aren't sure what goes on in that little mind of yours, but we would like some things explained.

     First of all, i you are going to sell parking permits to students, maybe get them to their respective homes quicker?  Having to start the semester is a real pain in the butt, if you don't have the permit you paid for.  Strangely enough, if you have a parking permit, but campus hasn't sent it to you and hasn't told you to come pick it up (so it isn't in your possesion), and you have to park at a meter on city campus, you will get a ticket.  That's just life.  Because your car is registered with the University and permits are not allowed in parking meter spots.  Now, UNL, we're sure you're hitting your forehead right now, muttering "Doi!" under your breath, but just hang on.  So, unlucky students, get your wallets out and kiss goodbye to $30 buckaroos.  Yes, you read right.  $30 bucks for parking in the only place you thought you could!  It's a proverbial parking limbo.  You can't park on campus AND you can't park at a meter for fear of a possible ticket.  UNL, if your one wish was to confuse the last, possible, minute logic out of our brains, Congratulations!  You did it!  And don't even start to say "You could ride the campus bus" or "Ride your bike!".  Because! For some of us, our bus passes come with our permits.  If we don't have our permits, there is no way we'll have a bus card!  And if we had our bikes on campus, we would probably be riding them.  We probably should stop this little mini-rant and catch a breath, take a breather, hit the pause button.

     Another thing that has us a bit miffed, is the whole permit area thing.  Yeah, you know what we are talking about.  The whole Faculty-Commuter-Resident  Red-Green-Blue tag... ... thing.  Yeah.  We went there.  Ok, so we understand how it all works.  You have this color coded/word labeled tag.  You park in the lot with the sign that matches your tag.  Yaddah, yaddah, yaddah.  In the words of Ke$ha, Blah, Blah, Blah.  If your tag does NOT match, oops! sorry, you CAN'T park here.  AND, here's the kicker.  If you're a resident (or student living on campus, for those of us not caught up on the lingo) and you want a friend (who does not live on campus) to visit, you must find a place to hid and stash their car.  For, believe it or not, they are not allowed to park anywhere on campus EXCEPT the meters!  If you are somehow lucky enough to get a hidden spot or park in the faculty lot, then props to you and we applaud your smarty pants-ness and sheer luck.  You are in the small, smart population.  The remainder of us will hang our heads in shame.

     It pains us, UNL, that we can't spend time with our friends on campus, with out the fear of your strangely, unfair parking enforcement breathing down our necks.  Stay classy, UNL.  We will always love you (and try to figure out new ways to buck the system).

Sincerely,
killa & barney