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I realize that there's often a bunch of petty bullshit involved in parking enforcement. But can we just acknowledge that calling parking enforcement "dystopian" is perhaps just a bit overwrought?

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Agreed. Dystopian is too far. However, I do think that college parking is low-key a predatory racket. Students are a captive market and the school supplies the parking. They know the enrollment numbers, they make you buy a parking permit, so they know how many spots are needed. Somehow though, there are never enough parking spots. I think it should be illegal for schools to issue tickets for parking (outside of handicap spots, the middle of the road, fire lanes, etc) until they can prove that there is a legal spot for every permit they issue. Otherwise, they are incentivized to issue more parking permits than there are spots which is clearly setting up many students to be in an impossible situation.

Yeah. I actually really like this solution. No damage to the car, quick to apply, quick to resolve. When my car got towed in NYC, getting it back took several days and with an additional cost of a couple hundred dollars. The barnacle would have been an incredibly easier, simpler, and cheaper outcome. At least I assume cheaper, but maybe the manufacturer charges additional fees on top of the fine (and now _that_ would be dystopian). It's also avoids the panic of looking for your car only to have it not be where you left it.

My car was towed due to registration issues, not illegal parking, but it was enough of an experience where I can easily see the merit of the barnacle.

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