Cars towed without warning
By Megan O'Connor
Sophomore Allyson Harrison parked her car at 9:30 p.m. on Lafayette Street between Bellomy and Poplar Streets on March 18, only to return the next morning to find that her car was gone.
Harrison's car was towed during new stoplight construction at the intersection of Poplar and Lafayette Streets. Harrison is one of seven people whose cars were towed on the morning of March 19 and who had to pay a $215 fine.
"I had parked there the night before, I was studying for finals. I park there all the time," she said. Harrison said there were no signs up prohibiting her parking there. According to Lt. Mike Sellers, a Santa Clara police department spokesman, the signs may have been stolen.
Harrison had to pick up her car from the Lima Tow Company and pay a towing fine, in addition to paying a citation to the Santa Clara police department.
Freshman Cory Johnson's car was also towed after he parked on Lafayette Street at 11:30 p.m. He also said that he did not see any signs prohibiting parking.
Both Johnson and Harrison do not have on-campus parking permits because of the cost.
Harrison started a group on Facebook to encourage students whose cars were also towed to join her in appealing to the Santa Clara police department. Both Harrison and Johnson plan on formally appealing their tickets but have not yet started the process.
"I am appealing because there were no signs present, and I feel like the police department didn't do their job," Harrison said. "I don't think it's fair that we had to pay fines for something that wasn't even there. I'm usually not so adamant about things, but this is so wrong."
Students and residents of 901 Poplar St., located next to the light, said the construction had been happening irregularly throughout winter quarter.
"Some days there will be signs on Poplar Street in front of our house saying we need to move our cars, and some days there won't be," said nearby resident Medley Crank.
"The problem is that they put the signs out around 8 a.m., so if we parked our cars at night and sleep past 8 a.m., we have no idea that we are required to move our cars," said Crank.
Despite the inconsistency, no residents reported towed cars.
The towing of these students' vehicles comes at a time when parking on campus has been limited, particularly with the construction of the new business school restricting parking in the lot behind the Arts and Sciences building.
According to Campus Safety Director Charlie Arolla, there are plans to add additional parking on campus to replace the spaces that have been cut by the business school, although no decisions as to where the additional parking will be have been made.
Contact Megan O'Connor at (408) 554-4546 or moconnor@scu.edu.