Meet Bill Rawluk: Parking Specialist

Circling the campus in his white golf cart and holding his handheld computer, Bill Rawluk, parking specialist at the University of Richmond, starts his work week at 7 a.m. on Monday.

Rawluk said his job entailed checking the road signs, keeping a log of how many people parked in the hybrid parking spots and riding around the lots.

Contrary to popular belief, Rawluk does not come up with the parking regulations; he just abides by them, he said.

To parking violators, he is known for seeking illegally parked cars and printing the $30 red-and-white parking tickets that students and faculty often see on the windshield of their cars.

Rawluk said he saw the most violators on Mondays and Fridays.

"Thursday night is a party night, apparently," Rawluk said. "I get a lot [of violators] in the apartments early in the morning. I get 10 to 15 cars by the apartments in the first hour."

With a sarcastic tone, Rawluk said, "I am the most loved person on campus."

In his 10 years working as the parking specialist, Rawluk has encountered his share of unhappy drivers.

He said a girl cried and screamed at him after she had received her sixth ticket because her father was going to take the car away from her. He said she hung onto his golf cart for 10 minutes and would not let him go.

Another time, he gave a ticket to a man in the dining hall parking lot at 8 a.m. Rawluk said the man was drunk and proceeded to yell, curse and even punch his golf cart.

In the last couple of years, people have not been yelling at him, but he typically hears complaints toward the end of each semester because students are stressed, he said.

Austin Butler, a sophomore, said one time he had parked in front of the library to grab something to eat at Tyler's Grill and came back to see Rawluk placing a ticket on his car.

"He is very sneaky," Butler said. "I refrained from saying anything, but I did proceed to yell profanities in my car."

As far as parking ticket costs, the first five tickets are $30 each, and every ticket after that is $40, Rawluk said.

Rawluk said he caught someone parking illegally in the same exact spot 134 times -- making up a grand total of about $5,310 worth of tickets in one semester which was the most tickets he has ever given anyone, he said.

The circumstances in which Rawluk would not give a ticket include if someone was sitting in their car or if he or she came out to the car before he gave the ticket, he said.

Virginia House, a junior, said she almost got ticketed in front of the library, but got to her car before getting one.

"Realizing I was right there, he stared at me, laughing, shaking his head and drove off," House said. "Clearly, he was not happy with me."

Shortly after her encounter with Rawluk, House tweeted, "That's right parking services guy - I escaped you! #youcantcatchme."

Banter was exchanged between House and @URParkingGuy, a fake Twitter account mocking the students who complain about parking tickets.

One of the more recent tweets said, "It might be spring break ... but I'm still giving out tickets #springbreak."

Rawluk said he knew about the Twitter account. He said he didn't have a Twitter account and didn't know how to tweet, but he thought the fake account was funny.

People familiar with Rawluk's job easily recognize his white golf cart. He said his golf cart was lousy because it did not have heating or air conditioning, and there was a leak in the seals of his gas tank.

Not only does Rawluk work during the week, but also on the weekends for the football and basketball games.

On Saturday football games, Rawluk said he had to arrive on campus at 2 a.m. because everyone must be out of the parking lots.

He said these days were hard for him because he works all day Friday, gets three hours of sleep and then wakes up at midnight to get to campus on time.

"It cuts my whole weekend because I am so tired," Rawluk said.

Rawluk said drivers needed to think about other people.

For example, during the games, Rawluk said he has seen visitors and old people looking for handicapped spaces, but those spaces are occupied by students with a six-month handicapped tag who may not need it.

"All of these [assigned] spaces are for people who work [on campus] or people who commute, and [violators] are taking their spaces," he said. "Be considerate of other people."

Rawluk also said giving tickets was not personal.

The main reason Rawluk is working as the parking specialist at Richmond was for his 12-year-old son. As a university employee, one of the benefits is that his son can get free tuition when he is ready to go to college, Rawluk said.

Contact staff writer Marie Jayme at marie.jayme@richmond.edu