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| Our Perspective ...
Yet ANOTHER parking conundrum in our
midst |
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Just
when the Appalachian community thought the parking situation could
not get worse, plans for removal of around 300 spaces near Whitener
Hall makes the nightmare a reality.
By December, graduate assistants will no longer
be permitted to park vehicles in Legends or Raley parking lots and
will be diverted to the current overflow areas of Stadium or Greenwood
lots. Raley and Legends lots will be converted to faculty and staff
parking only.
There will become a succession of overflow, with
students who originally bought passes for Stadium having to park
in Greenwood and South lots.
Depending on how many spaces are opened up mid-year
or how many new spaces are created, someone (just maybe a student)
may not find a space one day or even be able to purchase a permit. |
The parking deck is
intended to alleviate the fiasco that is parking on Appalachian’s
campus.
Except there’s a problem: A space in the deck for one year
will set the permit holder back $500.
When the deck opened this fall, only 350 had been sold of the 650
total. As of last week, 500 had been sold.
Parking and Traffic officials recognized parking decks often experience
a slow start in the beginning, but they weren’t worried.
More construction loomed ahead in the future of Appalachian’s
work-in-progress campus.
The closing of the Whitener lot put faculty, staff and students
in prime position to need the spots in the parking deck, especially
if fewer campus permits are sold to students next semester.
Administrators contend no one will be forced to buy a space in the
deck; there will always be another option.
But let’s face it: If someone really wants or even needs a
spot on campus, at some point they are going to have buy a space
in the deck.
So why are administrators advertising the deck to freshmen, the
population least likely to need a parking spot on campus?
To fill the spaces, of course.
Jane P. Helm, vice chancellor for business affairs, would like to
fill the parking deck to its fullest capacity by any means necessary,
including offering the on-campus passes to freshmen.
“If I was a freshman, I would certainly consider the deck as
an option,” said Helm. “State Farm can often be inconvenient.”
Helm’s quote makes State Farm lot sound inconvenient, when
in fact the paved lot is just as easily accessible by AppalCART
as any other off-campus lot.
Admissions boasts about the State Farm lot, noting
many universities do not even allow freshmen to bring vehicles to
campus.
If there are so many problems with campus parking, why is Helm inviting
freshmen into the deck? Administrators should find ways to make
the deck more appealing to those who can already park on campus
and deal with the problem at hand, not make it worse. |
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