I think I understand this one — you can read about it here.
The employees union of the University of Illinois decided that parking cost too much on campus, or was unfair. So they asked if they could negotiate the parking fees. The university said NO so lawyers and courts got involved and the courts said YES.
So they negotiated a sliding scale for parking fees. The more you make, the more you pay. Certainly a fair approach if the last book you read was written by Karl Marx.
I’m not sure, but I don’t think that the Prius driven by the $100K a
year professor takes up any more space than the 12 year old Caddie
driven by the $40K a year head of maintenance. In fact, its probably
true that the prof doesn’t use as much space (forget square footage for
a moment) since he probably only teaches two or three days a week and
the maintenance guy is there every day.
I’m just musing, but wouldn’t it be more fair to charge people on how much parking they USED. Some people may be on four day weeks, so they would pay less. Others may need access on weekend or nights, so they would pay more. If they charged on the basis of usage, then drivers might be motivated to car pool and thus reduce the number of cars on campus or the need for that new parking structure.
But — when you get lawyers involved, common sense goes right out the window.
JVH
OH, it looks like the parking department won’t be able to make its budget, since it is self supporting and this new program will cut their income. I’m sure the lawyers, courts, and union have a quick solution for that problem.
