It was around 9 p.m. and my car was parked on campus. There was no way I was going to wake up at 7 a.m. to move it, so the hunt was on for a legal spot. Colfax? No chance. Lincoln? Are you kidding? Orrington? I was out of luck. Then there was Dartmouth. A prime spot, basically across the street from my house, and all I had to do was move it by 11 a.m. Bingo.
But of course, parking in Evanston is never that easy. By the time I had glanced at my watch the next day, it was 12:03 p.m. I walked briskly to my car. Certainly, Evanston parking wouldn't care about an extra hour spent in front of a public tennis court - or would they? I thought I was off scot-free until I saw the white envelope on my windshield wiper. I looked down at my tires and saw no chalk. I had a momentary daydream of my Clarence Darrow moment in Evanston's Parking Court. "Now I'm not a big-time fancy lawyer, but it seems to me that if there isn't chalk, then the parking guy can't actually prove that I was parked for two hours!"
After the crowd had gasped and I had showed off my suspenders, the fantasy ended. I looked down to read the ticket. "Computer chalk @928AM Tire Stems Havent Change Vehicle Has Not Moved No PRMT Displayed. $30 Due Now." So many emotions, so much to say… What the hell is computer chalk?
So Evanston got my $30 for parking more than two hours on the 600 block of Dartmouth Place. But what is the point of that street being a two-hour parking zone to begin with? It's not a commercial zone, nor is it residential, save the western quarter of the block. All Dartmouth has is university buildings and tennis courts. Evanston can't be concerned with Northwestern University faculty having trouble parking. For one, they don't care. There's also a NU lot on the block. And even with the 9 a.m.-6 p.m. parking regulations, the street is constantly packed with student vehicles anyway. So that begs the question: Is Evanston charging $30 for violating the parking rights of recreational tennis players?
I can see it now - 10 years down the line, Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf bring their daughter to check out NU. After dropping her off at a tour, they decide to play a little tennis at that charming court on Dartmouth Place. The match turns epic. A crowd looms in. And in the 5th set just as Agassi begins to serve the final tiebreaker… computer chalk. Maybe next time they should play in a city with more sympathetic parking regulations.
Yeah, it was $30 I could've spent otherwise, but I'm not bitter - I broke the law. Why can't Evanston just allow students who live on campus to purchase parking permits? It may make the streets a little more crowded, but it would be guaranteed revenue and I would even pay double or triple the usual $70 annual fee. It might make NU's $462 rate a little bit more competitive. In the end, with its phantom street cleanings and spontaneous construction projects, I know that Evanston is too smart to allow students to park legally.
Weinberg senior Adam Ganjani can be reached at adamdg@northwestern.edu.
Be the first to comment on this article!