Don’t just target YSU students; enforce parking equally in city

Don’t just target YSU students; enforce parking equally in city

Give the students a break. We are all aware that the cost of a college education is high and a burden for many students. I am a non-traditional student (over 60) and attended two classes on the first day of the academic year last week.

There is a genuine shortage of parking on the first few days of a new semester. I found a place in a private lot for $3 early in the day. When I returned to my car I saw that either the Youngstown police or the YSU Campus police had ticketed all of the cars on the south side of Arlington Street.

It is a very poorly marked no parking zone. That side of the street is mostly vacant lots and abandoned homes, and the cars parked there do not create a bottle neck or a hazard. I believe that the city and/or university should have chosen to ignore these technical violations via non-enforcement. It seemed to me to be a rather shameful money grab.

Let’s not make the cost of an education even more expensive by unfairly targeting students.

I am often in the center city because of my business obligations, and I cannot help but notice that there are plenty parking violations that the city chooses to ignore on a daily basis in the downtown area.

I hope that some authority, possibly a judge, orders the cancellation of the YSU area tickets until the no-parking laws are enforced equally throughout the city.

R. Passarelli, Youngstown