Oxford City Council recently decided to extend the time in which parking tickets can be paid before fines are increased.
In the past, traffic violators were given 48 hours to pay their fines, after which the fines would be increased.
"Now that the ordinance has been passed unanimously by the council, people have seven days to pay off their tickets," Oxford Mayor Richard Keebler said. "It seems like the reasonable thing to do. Before it was hard for students to go home and mail back their fee within 48 hours."
Although Keebler has not experienced too many problems with parking personally, he disagreed with uptown business owners feeding meters throughout the day instead of leaving parking spaces open to customers.
"I am always able to find a spot within a few blocks of my destination," Keebler said. "Merchants should also park down streets a little further away from uptown so customers have full access."
Miami University junior Nicole Thieman agreed that something needed to be addressed in terms of parking.
"It is good that they extended the time to pay off the ticket because it not only gives people more flexibility, but it offers a longer chance to contest a ticket if needed," Thieman said. "Forty-eight hours did not seem long enough."
However, merchants are not the only ones who pose a problem when it comes to parking uptown.
Students living in the apartments directly uptown are also known for monopolizing limited parking spaces, a problem Keebler suggested be solved with university parking lots.
"Again, those parking spaces should be for customers," Keebler said. "The school offers other car storage options to students."
Junior Jessie Rains agreed that while parking is tight, it is difficult to come up with a solution because of Oxford's small size.
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Keebler said parking will likely remain problematic.
"I think the new changes in terms of parking are very reasonable," Keebler said. "However, it is just a fact of life. People are going to have to accept that parking will always be an issue here."
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