University of Virginia Library

Meter Mess

During the last couple of months the
University has been besieged by a plague of
near-epidemic proportions. This alien virus
has been gathering momentum and infecting
more and more the central Grounds,
despoiling the aesthetic face of Mr. Jefferson's
beauteous creation. Its chief propagators –
Big Brothers. Vincent Shea and Richard Shutts
– apparently hoped that if the pestilence
appeared gradually no one would notice –
thus the sneak attack. But, alas, there is no
such thing as an unobtrusive parking meter.

Perhaps the invisible Shea and the slippery
Shutts thought we would also forget their
previous assurance that parking meters would
definitely not appear east of Emmet Street,
and that the unsold close-in spaces would be
up-for-grabs each day for those of us who did
not buy $50 or $100 permits. That, they told
us, was one of the advantages of the pay
parking system – before, only faculty and
administrators could vie for close-in spaces,
now, everyone would have an equal
opportunity. As it turned out, equality had its
price.

But it's not the money (we've grown
accustomed to their greedy paws dipping into
our wallets) nor their broken promises (we've
even grown accustomed to their saying one
thing and doing another) that is the main
issue here. It's something else altogether –
something called taste. Or aesthetic
appreciation. Or reverence for natural beauty.
Which was what we based our argument on in
the first place.

But words, it seems, are inadequate. Maybe
the only way to get through to these guys is
to yank one of their metal monstrosities out
of its sacred ground, wrap it around their
not-so-sacred necks, lock them in the two toll
booths they stole from the Pennsylvania
Turnpike, and hang the whole mess from the
ceiling of University Hall.

Now that would be ACC Atmosphere!