With the recent string of robberies on campus, it’s no surprise that UK students are disgusted with the presence of police officers and their patrolling habits, seemingly allowing the criminals to run rampant.

You’ll be happy to know this letter is not going to rehash these points; rather it is going to address another criminal currently plaguing the UK campus; Parking & Transportation.

Going back two weeks, an unfortunate situation presented itself to me: No room at the bike rack! One of the few racks located even remotely close to Whitehall Classroom Building (outside of the obnoxiously inconvenient racks located to the rear) is at the Ralph G. Anderson Building. Here I stand, three bike racks completely full.

So, what to do with no room and time ticking down before class starts? Park it adjacent to bike racks and out of the way on a railing — along with four other bikes you say? Sounds reasonable, right?

UK PTS begs to differ, and a quite wishy-washy differentiation at that. Some days they enforce it, and other days, they’re on holiday. I picked the wrong day to park at the railing, apparently.

My bike, along with the four others, were stolen by UK PTS and held for a $55 ransom. In addition, this circumstance forced me to buy a new bike lock – because they had the courtesy to slice it with bolt cutters – which aren’t cheap.

On top of it all, my appeal of this ignorant impoundment was mockingly declined by the Parking Appeals Committee with the reasoning, “Bicycle No Parking Area.” That’s what I got… funny, right? What’s even funnier is that more bicycle owners continue to chain their vehicles in this exact location, untouched by the scourge.

Recently, I counted nine bikes on this railing, many of which were in clear violation of fire codes – mine was not.

Here’s a thought: When the makeshift overflow racks are overflowing, I think there’s a problem. I believe it is the Parking &

Transportation’s responsibility to have adequate parking available for the registered bicycles on campus, and at this location on main campus there is nowhere close to enough. I believe a bit of common sense needed to be exhibited in this situation. In scenarios of blatant disregard for the rules I have no problem with impounding, but my intentions were good. If there were room on the racks, my bike would obviously have been parked there.

What say you to this novel idea, PTS:

Move just one of the hundreds of racks you have behind Whitehall or in front of Chem Phys to easily alleviate this problem.

The two-faced nature of UK PTS is a scar on this University and should bring great shame upon the general upstanding Administration the University employs.

I can only hope that one day the stranglehold UK PTS has on students can be loosened and give some peace of mind in knowing the PTS is working for us, and not against us.

Stuart Hammer

Journalism junior