“After careful review of all pertinent facts and submitted documentation, your petition is denied. If you have not already paid the fine amount, it is now due.”

This is the opening statement of a letter I received from N.C. State University Petitions Hearing Officer Debbie Beach. The letter was in response to an appeal I made against a $40 parking citation. In the past, my immediate reaction would be to send an e-mail to the Chancellor’s Office calling all the bureaucrats in the Transportation Department idiots and incompetent. But I’m not going to stoop to that level because there are a lot of employees working hard to make the flow of people and vehicles on campus tolerable and safe. So before I begin ranting, let me first provide some education value to this column.

Transportation is a department located within NCSU’s Business and Finance Division. What operational tasks does NCSU Transportation perform? “Management of a 19,000 parking space inventory, parking services, campus transit services, transportation alternatives, operation and maintenance of parking facilities for vehicles, motorcycles and bicycles, parking citation review and adjudication, and coordination of campus event parking.” With an annual budget of more than $8 million, the Transportation Department has a tremendous work load with meager resources.

Now back to my story. I’ll be the first person to admit, I’ve collected more than my fair share of parking tickets during my tenure here. As the appeal letter stated, “Since you have received previous citations for No Permit, it is reasonable to expect you to know and understand NCSU permit requirements.” This academic year alone I have received three fines; two of which I paid.

Throughout the years, I have been assigned various parking permit types. Some allowed me to park in the nosebleed lots on the fringes of campus; while others gave me the power to park anywhere on campus — like the middle of the Brickyard or the Chancellor’s living room. So yes, I do know NCSU parking regulations. And with a little common sense and my extraordinary NCSU education, I have concluded that Transportation has made an error and I therefore will not pay the fine.

You see, I have no problem paying parking tickets when they are justly issued.

But since my petition decision “is final and cannot be appealed;” my only alternative is to implore the sensibilities of the student body.

One evening in the middle of March I was visiting Thompson Theatre; probably there to learn more about the theater’s pending multi-million dollar renovation. I was fortunate enough to find a parking space in front of the theater on Dunn Avenue. I knew the parking zone on the other side of Dunn was marked “DE” which meant enforcement lasted until midnight — so I couldn’t park there. But the side of the road closest to the theater is unmarked except for a scattering of “SV” signs for specific spaces — so I should have been fine since I was parking there after 5 p.m.

And of course that wasn’t the case; I received a ticket for violation number one — “No Parking Permit.” Following proper procedure, I appealed on the grounds that I was parking in a valid spot after regular enforcement hours. There is no sign on that side of the road indicating that I was parked in a “DE” zone. I should not have gotten a ticket in the first place.

My efforts were futile. I still owe the University $40 and I have exhausted my appeals. It should be noted that money collected from parking fines does not come back to the University. It’s actually transferred to the public K-12 school system. NCSU is only able to keep a small portion of the parking fine money; only enough to cover administrative costs and overhead to operate the enforcement division.

All is not lost though. While I was at the theater that night; I decided to give the University $2,500 to support the arts programs. The money will “endow a chair” and provide assistance in Thompson’s much needed reconstruction. But now, why should I give the University any money, especially when they are insisting that I pay $40 for a parking ticket that I should have never gotten in the first place.

So it is up to you Charlie Leffler, vice chancellor of finance and business. I’ll shell out $40 or $2,500 — but you can’t have both. I’d rather support the arts, but I will not allow myself to be taken advantage of a moment longer.

E-mail Andrew your thoughts to [email protected].