I'm not a fan of columns in The Dartmouth that whine about how rough life at Dartmouth can be or complain that a certain department or administrative office is being unreasonable. Therefore, what follows is merely a story.
For the first time since coming to Dartmouth, I have a car to drive around the lovely Upper Valley area. Last Sunday, I arrived in Hanover after a scenic drive from my house in Maine through the back roads of New Hampshire. After unloading my things and retrieving boxes from last year's dorm, I parked my car behind Mass Row. I thought it would be reasonable to leave it there for the first night since people were moving around and I could just take care of registering the car and getting a spot in A-lot the next day. I did not rush to move the car first thing Monday morning and assumed that I could be safe from parking tickets. My reasoning behind that assumption comes from the fact that every other term for the past three years, I have arrived with my parents, unpacked, and gone to get lunch in town or buy books without being fined for having left the car in a College parking lot. Also, being the blitz-happy Dartmouth student that I am, I checked the Parking Operations blitz bulletin to see if there were any instructions for what to do, but no messages had been posted.
When I went to get my car around 3:30 Monday afternoon and head to 5 Rope Ferry Road, there was a ticket on my windshield. I was wrong with my assumptions and take full responsibility for not finding out the details for rules about parking. I arrived at Parking Operations with my ticket, driver's license, student ID, and car registration. My expectations were that I would register my car, pay for the ticket, pay for the privilege of parking in A-lot, and be on my way. However, as I approached the door, a man who had just left the office asked me if I was trying to go to Parking Operations, and when I replied that I was, he told me that it had closed for the day. Looking at my watch and seeing that it was 3:44, I was slightly confused by that. So, I explained to him my situation and he told me that all I had to do on Monday night to avoid another ticket was park wherever and then call 6-2204 to leave a message describing my car, license plate, and its location.
On Monday night, I parked behind Mass Row again. Once back in my dorm room, I called the number that I was given, but it was just a recording and I could not leave a message. So, Tuesday morning I got up relatively early, drove my car (which did not get ticketed for being there overnight) to Parking Operations at 8:00 a.m., filled out the registration, showed the woman all of my IDs and paid for the previous day's ticket as well as the A-lot fee. When I left the building, a man was standing in front of my car with the ticket-making machine in his hand, and he was about to give me my second ticket (this was at 8:11a.m.). Fortunately, I ran over and showed him that I had just been in Parking Operations and was seconds away from dropping my car off at A-lot. I was spared this time. And just for fun, on the way out to East Wheelock Street, my odometer recorded a distance of .7 miles from the Hanover Inn to A-lot.
That is the end of my story. Life is good and I love being at Dartmouth. However, I was told that in writing a column, I have to include some sort of opinion, so here is the opinion part. It is not necessary at all to have a car at Dartmouth, and if anyone grumbled about getting a parking ticket in the past three years, I would have rolled my eyes and reminded them that they are extremely lucky to have a car in the first place. I also think that $11 to park at A-lot is quite reasonable, and .7 miles honestly isn't that far. My frustrations will come whenever I have to walk back to campus alone at night after parking. I have heard that there is a shuttle but I have not seen the details anywhere in writing (if anyone knows what the deal is, please blitz me). Again, it's not the distance that's bad, it's the darkness which comes quite early in the winter months around here. Finally, in my opinion, it is ridiculous that an office would be closed by 3:45 in the afternoon. Perhaps they put in that extra 15 minutes in the morning so that tickets can start being issued right at eight ...
