1994_02 The Daily Collegian February 1994

              2—Opinion
THECOLLEGIAN
Tuesday, Feb. 8,1994
Column
Parking, not
gonna happen
By Crirla Baxter
THEC
n —	
When I decided to write this column I told myself
that I'd stay away from those typical student whine-
fests.
You know, the usual complaints about fee in¬
creases, book prices, the Associated Students, Inc ,
that really rude guy over in Joyal, and, of course,
parking.
Well, this is my first installment and I've already
broken that vow.
. My first day back to our wonderful campus began
with a broken parking permit dispenser. I am referring
to the one located in Lot A (for those of you not fluent
in the parking lot alphabet, that's the one south of
Joyal), one of the only ones that takes dollar bills and
not just quarters. Like most of those who drive to
campus, I usually rely on day permits until I can take
the long hike out to the Satelhte Student Union and
pay the $54 that allows us to park too far away from
campus anyway.
I noticed the open sign on the Info Booth located'at
the entrance to the lot and walked over, knowing it
probably wouldn't help, but at least I could complain
to someone about the machine.
The pleasant young lady in the booth informed me
that the machine may or may not be working due to a
power outage. She also informed me that she could
not sell me a permit from the booth, but she did give
me change for my dollar.
I offered to test the machine out provided that she
give me my money back if it didn't work. Needless to
say it didn't work, but surprisingly enough, she gave
me a permit for my trouble, saving me a ride out to
Shaw arid Chestnut.
I wasn't too put out by the morning's events, so I
was ready to drop it — after all I did have my vow to
keep. But guess what? The machine was broken again
on Wednesday.
This time it wouldn't, take my dollar. Now, if the
Info Booth had been open, I could have just gotten my
change there and been done with it. Instead, I found a
"Back at 9 a.m." sign and had to walk to the Country
Store. When I got back to my car, it was 9:05 a.m.
and the sign was still up. Gee, I'm glad I didn't wait
As if this wasn't bad enough, the machine was
wearing an "Out of Order" sign on Friday, too. The
girl was in the booth though, so I asked her if it might
ever work again. The answer I got was not surprising:,
"The person who fixes them is sick." This was the last
straw. Vow or no vow, I feel compelled to share this
experience with you.
The irony of this little parking odyssey is the fact
that, even with a broken machine, no booth attendant
and a sick repair person, had I not bought a permit
somewhere else, the one person who would have been
around to do his/her job is the wanna-be traffic cop
who would have given me a $16 ticket
This is just another example of the way this school
is run. the "sorry I can't help you, but Fll let them
screw you" mentality is how it works around here.
It would be great if the parking powers-that-be,
which, by* the way, now reap the benefits of all the
parking fines collected, would do something about this
situation, but they won't ,
The machines will still be broken, the booth will
still open late and refuse to sell you a permit and the
parking patrol will still be there to leave those lovely
fluorescent green presents on your windshield.
So, pay your $54 early and save yourself the trouble
of fighting the system. You'd have better luck murder¬
ing your parents or mutilating your spouse than getting
out of paying a $16 ticket.
Column
America, home of the...
By Richard Nixon
THECOLLEGIAN
Not having cable, thank
God I didn't want to watch
television two weeks ago
when the earthquake rocked
Northridge. Yes, it was a
tragedy for those who lost
their lives in the apartment  .
buildings. Hopefully some
building codes will get    •
enforced, updated or at least
scrutinized.
~ My concern is not really
with building codes, or
even about geological
movements. I want to ^	
direct your attention toward
the very establishment by
which I am employed, and
that is the news media,
specifically photographers
and videogiaphers. Their
flagrant disrespect for the
victims was appalling. I'm
speaking of one scene in
particular, Where the fire
fighters were placing a
victim on a stretcher, a   ,
victim they had just pulled
from .the collapsed first
floor of his apartment
building; a victim who was
surrounded by no less than
20 cameras crowding in to
get a picture. It looked like
a feeding frenzy, utter
chaos.
Imagine it: you were just
pulled from a building that
dropped more than eight
feet into the ground after
See MEDIA, page 5
THE COLLEGIAN    ~
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