Members of the Transportation Advisory Council decided they needed to take a fresh look at parking, transportation and enforcement at Iowa State.

And Jim Hutter, a professor of political science and council member, volunteered to circulate inquiries via e-mail, campus mail, pony express and whatever else.

This attempt to get a fresh perspective on campus parking signals a novel approach: getting input from the Iowa State community before making major decisions at ISU. Seeking this type of input is what students have been clamoring about since Catt Hall was named. This type of input is also what the Faculty Senate is looking for when it hollers for shared governance.

In short, we like it. It makes the community feel like it has some say on decisions that are made here, and we encourage Iowa Staters to fill out the forms and send them to Hutter.

In addition, we have some parking suggestions for members of the Transportation Advisory Council to consider:

* Why is it that vending spots are ticketed all hours of all days when nobody uses them after hours? We are tired of getting tickets on Sunday at 8 p.m. for vending spots nobody else needs.

* Why must parking people continue to pile on the tickets when vehicles are illegally parked at meters? This seems like excessive ticketing. In addition, why do most meters on campus only allow for 30-minute parking when most classes last 50 minutes? Seems like a money-making measure to us.

* Shouldn’t there be a place near the library that could be used to quickly drop off items? It would be extremely helpful to student and faculty.

* Why isn’t the appeal process more appealing? It takes a virtual miracle to get a parking ticket overturned, even if it was received for simply running something into a building.

* Perhaps costs and pay periods for ISU tickets ought to coincide with Ames tickets. Many ISU tickets seem highly excessive; some fines run as high as $15 for spots rarely used.

A solution exists, and both administrators and students need to work together to find it. Let’s see what could happen if the effort is made.