The tickets are coming

Do you like to shop? Spend your money on things you love, like clothes, shoes, food, etc.? I know I do. Nothing beats the satisfaction of buying a new shirt or a video game.

The places you shop love to take your money. You know who else loves taking your money? P.A.C.E.

If you haven’t heard of this lovely company, Parking & Code Enforcement, try to park ANYWHERE in Lansing.

Parking is already such a difficult task in the city of Lansing, as there never seems to be anywhere to park. It seems as if the employees of P.A.C.E. are saying, “Why not make it even harder and give these folks some tickets?”

Personally, I’ve been fortunate enough to avoid the parking law. However, I have a friend who just can’t seem to evade P.A.C.E.’s line of fire. They ticket her so much that they probably know her by her car. No matter where she goes or how long she’s been away from her car (even less than 5 minutes), they always seem to be watching. In one semester alone, she dropped about $100 on tickets! One hundred dollars that could have been used on something else, like … food. Or clothes. Or literally anything else.

Maybe P.A.C.E. is so bored that they sit and wait to prey on the broke college students roaming the streets of Lansing. I wonder what they’re thinking when they’re ticketing poor college students. “I see you’re a hardworking student who parked here because you’re trying to go to class … TICKET.” Or maybe, “Hmm … this person looks like they’re broke. TICKET.” Or perhaps I’m just being an ass and they’re really just like, “I’m trying to pay my bills, so I need to ticket people who park illegally because that’s my JOB.” Who knows.

If you absolutely have to drive in Lansing, my advice to you is to: first, leave extra early so you have time to find a parking spot, and second, make sure you’re armed with plenty of meter/parking garage money.

 

 

Allie Wilson is a senior professional writing major from Niles, Mich. She currently works in the Writing Center and is an intern for Espresso Book Machine. When her nose isn’t buried in a book, she spends her free time obsessing over Grey’s Anatomy and eating. Wilson aspires to be an editor for a publishing firm that specializes in young adult fiction.

 

Tags: allie wilson, PACE, parking, parking tickets