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.