Miami University students can be really lazy. I mean, really lazy. Our campus is considered small compared with other schools and I can't tell you how many people I would see (including myself on occasion) drive to class or hitch a ride uptown on a Friday night because they didn't feel like walking. One of my friends lives literally two blocks from uptown, yet he complains every time I suggest walking and refuses.
When you walk, it's free. And it's good exercise. Driving uptown isn't free. You've got to pay the meters. In the near future, there's a chance that driving uptown might cost a little more. A proposal that has yet to be approved could change the cost for an hour of parking from 25 cents to 50 cents and would install more 15- and 20-minute meters for those making quick trips.
Anytime I've brought this up around friends, the remarks I get consist of, "Wait, seriously? That sucks!" and "Ugh that's such a rip-off!" Seriously? An extra 25 cents? That's nothing. I talked to the same friend that lives two blocks from uptown about this, and he complained. I asked if he wouldn't drive uptown anymore because of it, and his response was a quick, "No, I'll still drive uptown."
According to Bob Holzworth, support services commander for the Oxford Police Department and responsible for parking control, parking meter costs have not increased since 1993, or in 17 years. That's a long, long time for meter prices to stay the same.
The City of Oxford will benefit from the extra money without it being at a large cost to students. In my hometown of Birmingham, Mich., it costs 25 cents for 15 minutes at a meter, so maybe that's why I think nothing of this proposed change. The fact of the matter is students will still drive uptown just as much as they do now if the prices increase to 50 cents per hour. They'd do it even if it were 75 cents per hour. They'll throw in the extra quarter or two … or five.
And to all of you out there who want to tell off the "meter fairies" for doing their job … take a walk.
Read More
How one professor and her classes are preserving Oxford’s Black history
By Sean Scott | March 20, 2024Jazma Sutton, an assistant professor of history, teaches The Black Midwest (HST 350Q) and Black Women in America (HST 450D) classes. In both courses, she has students working with the Smith Library of Regional History and Miami’s archives to document and preserve Black history in Oxford.
Miami faculty members recount Freedom Summer in new documentary
By Luke Macy | February 25, 2022After seven years of work, “Training for Freedom,” a documentary highlighting Oxford’s involvement in the Freedom Summer of 1964, premiered on PBS Western Reserve on Valentine’s Day.
“Documenting the COVID-19 Pandemic”: History in the making
By Alice Momany | August 29, 2021In March 2020, Miami University’s archives launched “Documenting the COVID-19 Pandemic,” a collection focused on life during the COVID-19 pandemic.