Letter to the Editor

Dear local media,

My name is Dana Sigurdson, I am one of many students attending Mount Royal University who yesterday (Sept. 17) received a threatening letter on my car. Due to the lack of available parking passes at our school, along with the high prices of parking, students are forced to park in surrounding residential areas where parking is permitted. In the neighbourhood of Gissing Dr., a few blocks from the university, a member of the community placed a typed note on all of the parked cars sometime between 11am-3pm.  The exact words of the letter are as followed:

“ STUDENT:

PLEASE DO NOT PARK ON GISSING DR. AND DISAPPEAR FOR THE DAY.

WE PAY BIG TAXES SO WE CAN PARK BY OUR HOUSES.

THIS IS BOTH A REQUEST AND WARNING.  YOU WILL NOT BE ASKED AGAIN.

THE FUTURE OF THE WELLBEING OF YOUR VEHICLES IS NOW YOUR RESPONABILITY”

Quoted exactly, spelling mistakes included. Clearly this individual did not attend university and does not understand the hardships we endure seeing as they cannot spell a simple word such as “responsibility”.  I have made a Facebook post to warn other students on my friends list. I have also notified the non-emergency police to keep an eye on the neighbourhood, in efforts to avoid having our cars vandalized while we are at school working hard to further our educations. Where students are parking is a completely LEGAL place to park, as there are no signs posted to permit specific parking rules.  We do not park in front of fire hydrants, nor do we block driveways. Most students are only parked for a few hours between the times of 10 am-4 pm, when most people are work anyways. We are parking on a public road in which we all pay taxes to park on, not solely those who live in the neighbourhood.  Everyone pays taxes, not just those who “pay big taxes” to park by there houses. It is NOT illegal for us to park where we are, however it is illegal to threaten anyone and if the threat is followed through and our cars are vandalized the perpetrator will be the one breaking the law. We are parking 6-8 blocks from school not because we want to, not to annoy the members of these neighbourhoods, but because we have no other choice.

My reason for contacting you is that we need more students and more members of our city to be aware of this issue before tire slashing and the keying of students vehicles occurs. If you could do a short segment regarding the issue of angry neighbourhoods against student parking, it would go along way since the person who left the note left no contact information. Another major issue that still needs to be addressed in our beloved city is the lack of parking for students attending universities around the city. With the budget cuts last semester our parking costs have increased, stretching our already tight budgets and spreading them even thinner. Making it nearly impossible to afford parking after tuition and textbooks. With limited passes available even those willing to pay the hefty fee are often unable to purchase passes as the school quickly runs out.

Thank you for taking the time to read my letter.

Sincerely,

One of many concerned and frustrated students,

Dana Sigurdson