Parking Lot P31 is becoming a disputed parking area, at least for one Fresno State faculty member who says students should stay away from it.

Lynette Bartucci, who teaches in the clinical rehab and mental health counseling department, said she has racked up an estimated $600 in parking ticket payments over the past two years. Several tickets, including her latest, have come from parking too long in the 30-minute zones, she said.

On Sept. 20, Bartucci wasn’t able to find a parking spot in the usual staff spaces provided in P31, spaces described by the university as “employee parking.” She parked next to the campus Amphitheater in a 30-minute zone instead.

She had left a note, begging parking police officers not to ticket her.

“Please reconsider giving me a ticket,” the note written by Bartucci said. A business card with her name and number was attached. “There are no parking spaces in P31.”

And though a yellow parking pass was evident on her windshield, the note did little to deter a parking ticket. Eventually, a blue envelope appeared stating a parking violation. She needed to pay $50.

Bartucci had further written on her note that faculty, like herself, are typically not able to come quickly to move their cars from the 30-minute zone when they teach. And students using spaces in Lot P31, Bartucci claimed, it is a difficult task finding a space and getting to class early at the same time.

“There are a lot of students that take our spots to make it to class on time,” Bartucci said, “not having the understanding that their teacher (or) professor needs the spot to teach the class.”

There has also been an effort by Bartucci and those in an office she works in to get parking police to discourage students from parking in the employee parking lot.

“Our office also contacts traffic police often to do a daily sweep of the students in our parking lot and give them tickets,” Bartucci said.

There’s a good chance most of the commuters to Fresno State have experienced getting a parking ticket. And the chances of dreading to pay the $50 fine are likely high, too. Bartucci believes that the parking fee could be lower — at least for faculty.

“The fine should be reduced to at least $20, especially when we already pay monthly for the yellow parking pass,” she said.

The Collegian reached out to the director of Fresno State Traffic Operations, but a call was not returned by deadline for this article.