So, at my son's daycare on campus, there are 5 parent parking spots.  There are 65 children enrolled in the daycare, so there are some obvious problems from the start.  When you add in students, faculty, staff, and heaven only knows who else who think they should park anywhere they choose, there is a serious parking problem for parents.  The parents of the CDL were told that if our spots were full, we could park out front, so long as we displayed our parent tag and did not block the fire lane, and we would not be ticketed.

So I got a ticket last Wednesday.

I filed an appeal, and it was granted.  This does not, however, alleviate my ire.  I was told that I should park in commuter parking if I couldn't find a spot in the parent parking.  No parent should have to carry/walk their child that far away, especially if there is any sort of inclement weather.  And what exactly are the parents without a student or faculty permit supposed to do?  Drive around in circles waiting for a student to get out of class and move their car?  Ask the daycare workers to hurl their child through the classroom window into their car as they slow down?  What makes me angriest is that while all the powers that be are more than willing to admit that there's a problem, not one of them seems interested in DOING ANYTHING ABOUT IT.  BAH!

Now, as you all know, I am not exactly meek and mild.  I happen to be a bit snippy, perhaps mouthy.  So, like any irate mother faced with the prospect of carrying her squirming, fussing, cranky, apparently suicidal child across a busy campus street filled with college students driving in a fashion which indicates that they too experience suicidal or at least homicidal thoughts, I wrote an angry, albeit reasonably polite and tactful letter.  To whom, you might ask?

Oh, just the President of the University.

And the Vice President of University Advancement who oversees the university's relationship with the community.

And the Chief of University Police.

And the Dean of the College of Education, who oversees the Child Development Lab.

And the Director of the CDL.

As I discussed with some friends today, an angry email (which several parents have sent) says, "I'm angry right now, but not angry enough to put forth much effort! Oh, please don't delete me!"  An angry letter, though, says, "I'm angry!  I'm angry enough to type a letter, print it out, sign it, put it in an envelope, walk out to the mailbox, and pay 39 cents (x 5) to tell you how angry I am!  I'm angry enough to complain and make a right pain of myself!  BAH!"

So today, four of the five spots were filled with cars that had no parent tags.  I called the Tech police, and they obligingly sent one of their fine officers right over.  She arrived as I was pulling out with Daniel.  She looked at the first car and kept walking.  She looked at the second car and kept walking.  She looked at the third car and kept walking.  She looked at the fourth car and kept walking.  Because none of them had student hangtags, she didn't ticket them.  Nevermind that they were in PARENT SPOTS and were not in fact parents.  Apparently, in her world, only students get tickets.  By fine officer, I mean completely ineffectual, irritatingly useless, and ridiculously dumb.  I wanted to run her over with my oh-so-beautiful new Camry, but I did not wish to mar it with dents nor sully it with blood.

I suppose I could have called and complained, but I've already called them three times today, and I really don't think I could interact with them without the occurance of a moderate to serious apoplexy.