By Chase Sanders

A long struggle has existed between students and UK Parking and Transportation Services when it comes to tickets, boots and towing.

Last school year there were 52,154 citations, 209 boots and 1,740 impoundments on UK’s campus.

Since August, there have been 101 tows, 14 boots and 400 citations written, according to Lance Broeking, UK’s new director of Parking and Transportation Services.

Nobody likes those numbers, especially Broeking. He said he is eager to take on the challenge of strengthening the bond between UK Parking and students.

One challenge he is taking on is making changes to UK Parking’s enforcement methods. “Our desire is to reduce the number of tows and get people to pay their citations on time,” Broeking said.

Before, a vehicle was subject to being towed after three parking violations. Now, when a violator has three unpaid citations they will be issued a “courtesy warning.”

Under new Parking policy, an automobile is subject to impoundment after four citations instead of three.

“The changes that we’re talking about are specifically for unpaid violations, so they do not concern other flagrant violations,” Chrissie Tune, the senior marketing specialist for UK Parking, said.

UK students are glad to hear about the changes in enforcement.

“I’ve been ticketed at least 10 times, booted twice and towed once,” Casey Peak, a political science senior, said. “Freshman year I was parked in K-lot with my pass. Even though I had a parking pass and I parked legally, they still towed me for having three unpaid tickets.”

Peak would not have been towed in the same instance under the current parking policy.

“I understand the law is the law, but I hope they can also cut back on ticketing for minor things,” Peak said. “I’ve gotten at least two tickets for being parked less than six inches over a yellow line.”

UK Parking is also making efforts to upgrade communication between the department and parking violators.

In April, UK Parking implemented a policy to send an email to vehicle owners four days after receiving a violation and another email two weeks after the violation, according to a press release.

Ryan Saunders, an accounting and finance sophomore, has pulled a slip from his windshield like many drivers on campus.

“I try to follow the rules, but I’ve been ticketed,” Saunders said. “Sometimes the signs are not always clear, so my friends have been towed and ticketed for that.”

Some students say they hope Broeking can understand students and work to help resolve some of the problems UK students have with parking.

“They need to add parking structures on campus where the lots already exist, and hopefully make prices reasonable for students who utilize the Johnson Center to workout,” Allie Kleinhenz, a nursing senior, said.

Broeking said he understands students’ perspectives when it comes to resentment toward parking enforcement.

“I think we have kind of a negative stereotype of being harsh and heavy-handed,” Broeking said. “Part of that is the nature of the job. I’ve been tasked with trying to figure out how to make our business be the most customer and user-friendly as possible.”

Though Broeking is the new director, he is no stranger to UK.

Broeking has been with UK since 1996 when he was an associate director for Parking and Transportation Services.

“I love the job,” Broeking said. “I wouldn’t have asked for the challenge if it wasn’t something I enjoyed.”

He has hit the ground running and has short and long-term plans for UK Parking and its policies.

One aspect of the violations that immediately caught Broeking’s attention was that the number of tows outnumbered the number of boots over the course of the past nine years.

He said that in the past, UK had a higher rate of towing than its peer institutions, but he wants to fix that problem.

“Our desire is that we could eliminate the need to boot or tow, but practically speaking, my hope is to utilize booting as sparingly as possible and reduce towing to a minimal amount,” Broeking said.

It costs a violator $87 to be towed and $60 to be booted, he said.

Broeking said he wants to do as much as he can to improve the relationship between UK Parking and students.

“There are a number of things that are on my agenda, but I’m also trying to be realistic about what I can accomplish during a period of time,” he said.