When Rachel Tarlow, a senior at Binghamton University and a resident of the Vestal Parkway’s University Plaza apartments, returned to UP after winter break, she was more than a little surprised by what she noticed when she looked around the parking lot.
‘I came back and thought, ‘Holy s’t,’ she said. ‘There’s nowhere to park.’
That was because, according to a University Plaza spokesperson, approximately 100 spots previously designated for UP residents had been given to the newly opened gym Planet Fitness, which now claims to retain the right to tow any unregistered vehicles that park in these spots.
Angela Callahan, general manager of Planet Fitness, said the situation is clear.
‘They’re ours, and they were taken away from the students awhile back,’ she said. When asked why vehicles belonging to registered Planet Fitness members can still be towed if parked in spots for too long ‘ despite no mention of a time limit on the ‘clearly labeled’ signs ‘ Callahan said, ‘It’s almost a no-brainer. Members come first. When you’re here, you’re a member, when you’re not here, you’re not a member. If you don’t like it, your membership is canceled. We will not tolerate you.’
But according to Amber Sodan, UP’s property manager, there are 450 parking spots available for 434 registered resident vehicles.
‘We do have ample parking for all the people that are residing here,’ Sodan said.
Another UP representative added that ‘the spots are just further down now. It’s just that they’re not in the most convenient location.’ But while the representative claimed that these spots are designated as ‘UP only’ spaces, Tarlow said that patrons of other businesses ‘ such as Mario’s Pizza, Tully’s and the two banks located in the plaza ‘ continue to occupy resident parking spaces.
Concern over parking at UP is nothing new. Last October students wrote a petition to the company that manages UP, Newman Development Group, LLC, asking them to provide more parking spots for residents. The president, Marc A. Newman, told Pipe Dream at the time that students didn’t ‘have all the facts right,’ adding that they needed to ‘abide by the rules.’
Newman did not respond to phone calls for comment by press time.
But ‘abiding by the rules’ can be complicated. Planet Fitness’ designated parking spaces have signs which read ‘Parking for Planet Fitness Members only. All others will be towed.’ But even members of Planet Fitness can be towed if parked there too long.
While the rules may be clear to Callahan, others fail to see her logic. Tarlow, a registered member of Planet Fitness, explained that ‘there’s nothing on the signs that says you can only park there while you’re working out. They can’t legally tow my car. It’s bulls’t.’
Vin Congello, a junior at BU who also lives at UP (and a former Pipe Dream reporter), said that ‘the fact that they would ‘ tow students’ cars who are not disobeying the posted parking ordinances ‘ is absolutely egregious.’
For some residents, it’s a matter of convenience.
‘Why is it,’ Congello asked, ‘that tenants who live in the Plaza are targeted for the inconvenience ‘ so that merchants and consumers can have better [spots]?’
‘If UP can change parking convenience ‘ one of the selling points of living here ‘ in the middle of people’s lease terms, what other ways can they make living here worse?’
However, Newman may not be the only influence behind the scenes at UP.
According to non-profit tax forms, University Plaza is listed as 100 percent ‘ownership interest’ by Binghamton University Foundation Housing Corp., whose list of ‘Officers, Directors, Trustees and Key Employees’ names several University big-wigs, including Vice President of Student Affairs Rodger Summers and Vice President for External Affairs Marcia Craner, who are both listed as directors.
Sheila Doyle, associate vice president of the Binghamton Foundation, is listed as the executive director of the board. She did not return calls for comment.
Summers did acknowledge being on the Foundation Board, but stated that the board has no affiliation with UP. However, a representative of BU’s Off Campus College said that, although UP is managed by Ambling Management Company, there is ‘some sort of connection’ between Ambling and the University Foundation Board.