Student beware: city cracks down on parking
Alana Kansaku-Sarmiento
Issue date: 1/21/10 Section: News
Pacific University students will have to start heading to classes earlier if they want a place to park their cars.
An email sent out by Director of Media Relations Joe Lang on Nov. 19 stated the following:
"Enforcement of city parking ordinances on streets around the campus, including residential areas such as those on 21st Avenue east of Cedar Street, will increase.
Please note that University parking permits are valid only for University lots and that city ordinances apply to all street parking. Fines may be issued by the city regardless of University permit visibility."
Captain Aaron Ashbaugh of the Forest Grove Police Department notified the University of their decision to begin strict enforcement of parking restrictions along the streets surrounding the University.
"It stemmed from a neighborhood complaint," said Ashbaugh. Parking on 21st Street had begun to get increasingly difficult for Forest Grove residents who could not find space to park on their own street. The problem appeared to be caused mostly by students who were parking for lengthy periods of time, longer than the posted restrictions allowed.
"We're not out there enforcing parking very day of the year, and so sometimes students will ignore the restrictions because they're not getting a ticket for it," said Ashbaugh. "Then, when we get a complaint and we start working in that area more to solve the problem, students come to us saying, 'I've parked there all year without a problem. We thought it would be fair to students to let them know that we are going to be doing more enforcement."
The Forest Grove police station hasn't gotten any further complaints recently. Captain Ashbaugh and the police department are encouraging students to find out what parking is available both on an off campus.
On-campus citations issued by CPS, including both tickets and warnings, have been relatively consistent throughout the school year. The summer months of June, July and August saw only 18 citations all together, while September, October and November had 84, 70 and 66, respectively.
For many, parking has become more of a problem as of late due to the growth of the student population at Pacific. The largest overnight parking lot is located behind the Vandervelden, Burlingham and Gilbert residence halls.
An available off-campus lot is located between College Way and Ash Street, off of 19th Avenue.
Though half of the lot is restricted, at least half of it is available and often empty, according to Captain Ashbaugh, and can hold an approximated 20-25 vehicles.
All of the street parking directly around Pacific (on Cedar Street, Pacific Avenue, University Avenue and College Way) are city property, and have some level of restriction on it also enforced by the police.
An email sent out by Director of Media Relations Joe Lang on Nov. 19 stated the following:
"Enforcement of city parking ordinances on streets around the campus, including residential areas such as those on 21st Avenue east of Cedar Street, will increase.
Please note that University parking permits are valid only for University lots and that city ordinances apply to all street parking. Fines may be issued by the city regardless of University permit visibility."
Captain Aaron Ashbaugh of the Forest Grove Police Department notified the University of their decision to begin strict enforcement of parking restrictions along the streets surrounding the University.
"It stemmed from a neighborhood complaint," said Ashbaugh. Parking on 21st Street had begun to get increasingly difficult for Forest Grove residents who could not find space to park on their own street. The problem appeared to be caused mostly by students who were parking for lengthy periods of time, longer than the posted restrictions allowed.
"We're not out there enforcing parking very day of the year, and so sometimes students will ignore the restrictions because they're not getting a ticket for it," said Ashbaugh. "Then, when we get a complaint and we start working in that area more to solve the problem, students come to us saying, 'I've parked there all year without a problem. We thought it would be fair to students to let them know that we are going to be doing more enforcement."
The Forest Grove police station hasn't gotten any further complaints recently. Captain Ashbaugh and the police department are encouraging students to find out what parking is available both on an off campus.
On-campus citations issued by CPS, including both tickets and warnings, have been relatively consistent throughout the school year. The summer months of June, July and August saw only 18 citations all together, while September, October and November had 84, 70 and 66, respectively.
For many, parking has become more of a problem as of late due to the growth of the student population at Pacific. The largest overnight parking lot is located behind the Vandervelden, Burlingham and Gilbert residence halls.
An available off-campus lot is located between College Way and Ash Street, off of 19th Avenue.
Though half of the lot is restricted, at least half of it is available and often empty, according to Captain Ashbaugh, and can hold an approximated 20-25 vehicles.
All of the street parking directly around Pacific (on Cedar Street, Pacific Avenue, University Avenue and College Way) are city property, and have some level of restriction on it also enforced by the police.
Be the first to comment on this story