One way students try to deal with the lack of available parking is to park their cars on the public streets around campus. For most students, this means a shorter walk back to the dorms, but it also comes with possible consequences. The Des Moines Police Department patrols the streets around the Drake campus, and one of its jobs is to make sure that cars are not parked on sections of University Avenue and Forest Avenue at various hours of the day. From 7 a.m. to 9 a.m., Monday through Friday, there is no parking along the outside eastbound lanes of University and Forest. Likewise, there is no parking along the outside westbound lane of University and Forest from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday.
Cars parked illegally face the prospect of being ticketed or even towed.
Owen Crist Towing Company has a contract with the city and is in charge of towing the cars from Drake. Larry Crist, owner of Owen Crist, said for the first few weeks of the school year he tows a lot of cars from Drake, but after that business from Drake tends to slow down. Max Halverson of the Des Moines Police Traffic Unit said his division has not noticed a problem with cars being towed from Forest near the residence halls. He said the police department has specific officers assigned to patrol streets around the downtown area to make sure the lanes of major thoroughfares are clear for the peak traffic times. The parking situation around here is not at the top of our priority list.