On the prowl for parking.

Forget deer. Around here students are sold a license to hunt for parking spaces, said Ken Vance, director of public safety.

Faculty and students alike have spent three weeks fighting the parking battle, and according to Vance, they have done a great job.

“I appreciate the ingenuity and creativity that they are using,” he said, adding that people are parking away from campus and riding the shuttle to class more than he anticipated.

Prior to the beginning of fall semester, Max Allen, director of university relations and executive assistant to the president, warned, “The parking situation is going to be complicated.”

But after one week the problem was somewhat alleviated when a portion of the Centennial Center lot was reopened.

“We don’t call it a problem,” Allen said. “We call it a challenge.”

Students have mixed opinions concerning the situation.

Brock Pike, a senior said, “It works out pretty well for me. I park in the temporary parking lot next to the old middle school and catch the bus to campus.” Pike added that he also manages to find a parking spot close to campus two or three times a week.

“I arrive on-campus fifteen minutes early for my eight o’clock class and have been late everyday because I can’t find a parking place,” said Holly Owings, junior psychology major. “They really need to build a parking deck. I’d pay $40 for a guaranteed parking place, but I don’t think it’s right that people are paying to park and find a place.”

According to Vance, “There are problems like this at (several other universities). “There’s no guaranteed spaces so you have to hunt. You pay for the privilege of parking, if you can find a place to park,” he said.

Vance also said that he has been “pleasantly surprised” at how everyone is handling the parking situation. He said that during the first three to four days of classes, warnings were issued to students illegally parked and since, parking tickets have been issued.

“But we haven’t seen an increase in the number of parking tickets,” he said. “That surprises even me.”

Vance attributes some of the success of the temporary parking system to a letter given to students when they purchased parking decals.

“We gave the letter that said ‘Here’s the situation,” and I think that many people appreciated that we were straightforward with explaining the problem.”

Currently, Vance said, the shuttle bus service has been doubled and shuttles run as late as 11 p.m. on weekdays and also run on weekends. “We have great bus drivers who are listening to student recommendations and either working with them or informing us of problems that students are having.

According to Allen, the plan for building a parking deck on Clarke St. was on the Board of Regent’s August agenda but was tabled until a later date.

“We hope that (the parking deck) will alleviate parking problems down the road,” he said, adding the parking deck should be complete one year after construction begins.

Allen also urged students to be careful travel on and around campus due to the excessive amount of construction and said that students can feel confident that “The end result will be worth the hasssles.”

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Posted by Colonnade Archives on Sep 6 2002. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry