"Student Say $100 ticket is price gouging" — The headline in San Antonio. The Media does it again and parking takes it in the neck. In this case the local university has set $100 as the rate for some parking tickets. Read about it here.
I have a couple of problems with this situation. First the university "we need the money." Damn. What a hell of a reason. What if tomorrow everyone started obeying the parking laws? They would be out of business. The second reason "we need to deter". I can live with that. Yes, our rules need teeth. Why not $100 worth of teeth.
Now the headline — By paragraph eight we learn that the infraction was an permit that had expired and that the cost of the permit was only $100. We also learn that the student appealed the fine and it was overturned. So no harm, no foul.
So the system worked. The fine was enough to get the person’s attention, but the system was fair and when it found out that the problem was one of a person not realizing that a permit was overdue, then the fine was revoked.
However the headline didn’t say "Parking Fair, $100 Fine Overturned" Or "Student Error Reveals fairness in Parking Regulations" — Most people won’t read the story, just the headline. And parking gets it in the neck again.
JVH
