Parking tickets long have been a bane of existence at Amarillo College, although employees and students no longer are required to have campus-issued parking passes; that requirement ended in fall 2010.
The Byrd Business Building and Parcells Hall are undergoing renovation, and the employee parking lot behind the buildings is closed for use as a construction staging area, making for more parking complications.
“If an individual gets a parking citation on the street, it’s a city citation, and those fines are paid at the Amarillo Municipal Court,” said Cpl. Gerald Moore of the AC police department. “If you are ticketed in the parking lot, you pay that fine to the AC business office.”
Moore said some of the common AC-issued citations are parking on hash marks, parking on the line and parking in reserved spaces. AC collects the fines, and they are placed in a miscellaneous revenue fund.
City parking regulations also should be obeyed. When broken, they are considered to be non-moving violations. The most common violations to remember are blocking driveways, parking in the wrong direction, parking within 15 feet of a fire hydrant and parking more than 18 inches from a curb.
“People just don’t care about parking regulations as long as they’re not late to class,” said Steven Graham, a graphic design major.
Getting to the campus 15 to 30 minutes before class can be critical in order to be on time.
All parking citations are time-sensitive. Each one comes with a posted due date. If someone fails to submit a payment by the ticket’s due date, he or she could face late fees, collection agency fees and, depending on the situation and area, have the vehicle booted and vehicle registration suspended.
“I have a handicap permit, so I have better luck than most students,” said Andre Hill, a commercial driver’s license certificate major.
Parking in a designated handicap space without a permit can cost $500 to $750 for a first-time offense.
For more parking laws, one can refer to the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles driver handbook. Anyone can request a free copy at the local DMV.
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