The McDonald's restaurant at the corner of Yale Boulevard and Central Avenue is no longer a safe-haven for students looking for free parking near campus.
The franchise, fed up with UNM students parking on its property for extended periods of time, signed a contract with a local towing company last week to begin ridding the lot of the freeloading parkers.
"McDonald's understands the importance of the student community to their business, but after researching the severity of the problem and the impact that not having enough parking for their paying customers is having on them, we both felt that there was no other solution," said Jonathan Gonzales, towing manager at Discount Towing and Recovery, on his company's collaboration with the fast-food giant.
Gonzales said the contract calls for any car parked on the McDonald's property for longer than 30 minutes to be towed, although, he added, the decision on which cars are eventually removed is left to the restaurant's managers, who are constantly monitoring the property.
He added that his company has towed an average of five cars a day from the property since the contract went into affect Monday, Aug. 18.
The cost incurred when your car is towed? A hefty $81.48, Gonzales said.
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He said the contract calls for towing to continue throughout the semester, but declined to comment on how much Discount Towing stands to earn through the contract.
"It sucks, but put yourself in the restaurant's shoes," said Theresa Holcomb, a UNM alumna who says she took advantage of the free parking at McDonald's for years.
"There were times when the entire parking lot was full of students cars. I'm sure the lack of parking had to affect the restaurant's business."
Holcomb said that she felt bad for parking illegally at the restaurant, but said like many students at UNM, she was compelled to look for alternative parking because she often found herself without a parking spot on University property.
"We all know that there is a severe lack of adequate parking on campus," she said. "When you are put on a 'waiting list' for a parking permit you have to do what you have to do to get yourself to class everyday."
Robert Uno, an administrative assistant at the restaurant's corporate headquarters in Albuquerque, said the decision to begin towing cars from the property is in no way a personal attack on the students of UNM.
"Anyone who is parked there for an extended amount of time and who is hampering the business of the restaurant is being targeted," Uno said.
He added that the decision to contract the towing service was made independently by the University-area franchise.
Franchise managers declined to comment on the decision to hire the towing company or the severity of the problem of University students using their property for parking.
