Parking services incompetent

I'm usually not one to assume things beyond coincidence, but in regards to parking enforcement, corruption is evident. When my mom, who has rheumatoid arthritis and Sjogren's Disease came to campus, two cars were parked in handicapped spaces behind McLendon Tower. One was a black Denali adorned in Duke stickers with no handicapped tag. My mom parked in the dirt on the side of the road and put on her hazards for 10 minutes. A week later I was appealing her $40 ticket-it was denied.

Flash forward to Parent's Weekend. Yellow lines were being painted on Duke University Rd., and my parents parked in a lot next to the road. Paint dust was flying everywhere, and within a few minutes, my mom needed her inhaler, which was in my dorm. We parked in the Keohane fire lane behind the last available marked space; minutes later, a $200 ticket was on the windshield but not on the car with a Duke license plate behind us. My appeal was denied.

When my mom did park in a space behind McLendon Tower, she returned to find the infamous Denali parked between two handicapped spaces in an area of white lines.

Recently on the way to a basketball game with my family, my mom tried to park behind McLendon yet again. The black Denali sat in a handicapped space with no sign of a handicapped tag. I called Parking and Transportation immediately and reported the car. They explained it would be investigated the next day since they were busy with game parking.

Two days later, I walked behind McLendon Tower. I walked through the tunnel out of Keohane Quad, and the black Denali was nowhere to be seen. Instead, a silver Volvo was parked in one of the spaces with no tag or handicapped symbol on the license plate. I wasn't going to call Parking and Transportation anymore. This, I thought, is one for the Chronicle.

Mallory Pickard

Trinity '08