Campus becomes chaotic as parking keeps dwindling

     Another year at GCSU and another blow to student parking, as a new two-hour parking enforcement was put into place by the city of Milledgeville on various streets around downtown starting Aug. 13.
     Streets affected include Wayne Street, Jefferson Street, Elbert Street, Montgomery Street, McIntosh Street, and Hancock Street, which are enforced from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m.
     GCSU has been working with the city of Milledgeville for months to solve the issue brought up by the merchants of downtown Milledgeville due to a lack of space for business parking.
     After the city courthouse was allowed the top deck of the parking deck as private parking, the business parking was forced onto the streets. They found a decline in business due to a conflict in student parking and customer parking so the issue was brought to the City Marshall, Jack Graham.
     Wednesday Aug. 8, just a week before classes began, GCSU found itself in a situation when it noticed the city posting the new two-hour parking signs. The parking had already been allotted for the following school year without the thought of this plan going into affect so soon.
     The new parking spots for commuters have been pushed to the streets, the exterior of the Kilpatrick parking lot, and the lot located on East Montgomery and North Wilkinson. The university has given the Ellis Street lot and the interior lot of Kilpatrick to employees since they will benefit the most from an all-day parking spot.
     “Parking and transportation have been trying to solve the parking issues brought to their attention by students,” Greg Brown, the manager of parking and transportation at GCSU said. “One step the school is discussing to take in order to help aid the parking problem is by giving the Kilpatrick lot back to commuters.”
     The school has found that employees of the school have utilized only about half of both Kilpatrick and Ellis Street lots.
Tickets have not been issued yet, due to code enforcement, and only warnings have been given and will be issued for 30 days, which started Aug. 13.
     “The new parking transition will be enforced by employees chalking the tires every two hours,” Brown said.
     GCSU is also looking into buying a computer system with cameras to be set up in the streets to help monitor the two-hour policy, but have not yet made any final decisions. Until then, students are left to drive around campus numerous times in order to find that one lucky spot.
     “Parking is such a hassle,” sophomore Bailey Abercrombie said. “You have to drive around for 30 minutes until a spot opens. It’s basically gambling whether or not you’ll be on time to class by driving up there.”
     Other alternatives include parking in the parking deck downtown for only $1 the first hour, and 50 cents every hour after the first hour, walking to campus, or riding the shuttle. The campus shuttle runs every ten minutes from 7:30 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. From 5:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m., it runs every 30 minutes. After 9:00 p.m. the shuttle is on-call for pick-up. Commuters also have the choice to park at the Centennial Center.
     Students are highly encouraged to voice opinions or concerns about the new parking policy by contacting the Student Government Association representative and Student Body president, Ryan Greene, who has been monitoring this process very closely. The parking and transportation department has been working diligently to find the best answer to this parking dilemma that will benefit the most people.
     “Come to Student Government Association meetings,” Greene said. “In order to fix things on campus there needs to be a uniform body of students who all gather together to express the issue. Campus parking and transportation will be more likely to hear out a group of people than just one individual.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Aug 31 2007. 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