Those who park poorly on campus have more to fear than a citation: their parking may be subject to ridicule on the Bellarmine Bad Parkers Instagram page.
The page was created in October 2021, and regularly shares pictures of bad parking around campus. Students are encouraged to submit photos of poor parking they see on campus. From parking over the lines to parking on the grass, all forms of improper parking have been shared on the page.
The account has 556 followers at the time of this publication and is operated by an anonymous Bellarmine student. This student indicated via an email conversation that they started the account as a joke and the impact it had on campus has been a surprise. (Editor's note: Because the person is anonymous, Knight’s Media Network does not know the gender of the person and chose to use the pronoun “they” when referring to this person.)
Taylor Bottorff is one of the most frequent contributors of photos for the page. She treats finding bad parkers on campus like a scavenger hunt.
“I make it like a game,” Bottorff said. “It’s just a fun thing to do, like, around campus."
Bottorff said recently it’s gotten more challenging to find bad parking jobs on campus. She attributes this change to the page itself.
“I and other students have been trying really hard to make sure we don’t end up on the page,” Bottorff said. “I have a friend who constantly reparks and always has to get out and check that she’s totally straight.”
Bottorff said, however, that even she has been caught on a bad parking day.
“I was parked ever so slightly outside of the lines, and my friend took a picture of my car. Now she’s like, ‘Taylor, you need to do this for me or I’m going to show it to Bellarmine Bad Parkers.’ So, my friend has basically blackmailed me.”
The operator of Bellarmine Bad Parkers said that although it wasn’t the intention, they hope the page encourages people to park more considerately. “I hate bad drivers and especially bad parkers. There is nothing worse than someone taking up two spots,” the account operator said.
Deputy Director of Public Safety Kyle Rieber said he also hopes the page motivates people to improve their parking.
"We do a lot of things in public safety,” Rieber said. “We're not always writing citations, so we miss some things."
Rieber said he believes the account could be helpful to his department by encouraging better parking practices on campus and decreasing the number of citations his department writes.
Some students who have had their poor parking skills exposed on the page, however, are less happy.
Colin Duncan had a photo of his vehicle parked in an emergency spot posted to the account. He had a good sense of humor about the incident, but said, “I remember when [Bellarmine Bad Parkers] first got started, there were like a lot of people that got really, really mad about it.”
The operator of the account chose to remain anonymous to protect themselves from any disgruntled subjects of their posts, but the account operator also said they find anonymity fun for its own sake.
“I like the idea that people don’t know who I am,” the operator said. “I like walking around campus and hearing people talk about the account when I am right by them. I feel like a spy around campus sometimes.”
According to a post on the page from earlier this year, the account’s operator will be transferring to another school in the fall and plans to hand the account over to a successor. The operator also said after the account has changed hands, they will reveal their identity.
To stay up to date on the worst parking jobs on campus and be alerted when the account operator goes public, follow Bellarmine Bad Parkers on Instagram @bellarminebadparkers.
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