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Library plans convolute parking dilemma
Over 300 spaces will be lost once construction
begins |
Jennifer Brannock
Faculty Senate Beat
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Josh Brown | Chief PhotographerWhitener parking lot sits on
the new library’s proposed site. Faculty and staff members
will be relocated to Raley, Legends and Stadium lots once construction
of the library begins in April 2003. The relocation will displace
graduate assistants and other students who park on campus.
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You may notice a leaner, meaner
faculty and staff at Appalachian State University this spring,
as they will have to familiarize themselves with the student-like
trek across campus to their classes due to the closing of the
Whitener Hall Parking Lot.
Construction of a new library on the site of
the lot is scheduled to begin in April 2003, Director of Design
and Construction Dr. Clyde D. Robbins said. Approximately 300
spaces will be lost in the construction, leaving faculty and staff
of Plemmons Student Union, Whitener Hall, Belk Library, Chapell-Wilson
Hall and the University Bookstore with options that are challenging
and limited.
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Faculty and staff will have the option
to park in the Raley Hall Parking Lot, the Legends Parking Lot and
Stadium Parking Lot, which will displace many students from parking.
Faculty and staff will also have the proven unpopular alternative
of parking in the newly constructed Rivers Street Parking Deck.
“The [parking] deck has not been a popular option at this point
for faculty and staff,” said Barry D. Sauls, director of the
Parking and Traffic Department. “Of the 505 people parking
in the deck, 12 are faculty or staff members and 493 are students.”
The demolition of the Whitener lot will cause a ripple-like effect,
inconveniencing students, staff and faculty alike. In an effort
to provide faculty and staff members with adequate parking options,
graduate assistants will be removed from the Raley lot, opening
approximately 150 spaces. A number of student passes in Stadium
lot will also not be resold after the December graduation to allow
room for faculty and staff to park there.
Denise E. Story has been an employee of the University Bookstore
for three years and is unhappy with the plans attempting to remedy
the parking situation.
“I simply can’t imagine what’s going to happen when
[the Whitener lot] is taken away,” Story said. “As it
is right now, with that space, those of us who work in this general
area can’t leave for lunch because there’s no place to
park when we get back, and it’s going to be a nightmare.”
Faculty and staff members currently pay $9.17 per month through
payroll deductions for on-campus parking. Faculty and staff members
choosing to relocate to the Rivers Street Parking Deck will have
$41.67 deducted from their monthly paychecks.
Lisa C. Lalla is an administrative assistant for the Freshman Seminar
Program, which is housed in Whitener Hall. She is one of the hundreds
of staff members who will not receive a pay raise this year due
to budget cuts. As well, Lalla makes ends meet with her husband,
a full-time student, solely on her Appalachian income.
“I think it will be very difficult, especially for staff members
who don’t get paid as much money or faculty members who are
only part-time, to pay an extra amount of money to park at your
place of work,” Lalla said. “Our parking [fee may go]
up and we will be getting paid less money, so it’s like taking
a pay cut. [We] have our expenses go up, but we don’t make
any more money, which makes it more difficult just to get by sometimes.”
Dr. Ken L. Mullen has been an associate professor in the Department
of Political Science and Criminal Justice for 11 years and feels
the temporary loss of the Whitener parking lot is a worthwhile sacrifice
for the further progress of the campus.
“I would say that a nicer library facility, a larger library
facility that is capable of more holdings, is definitely a positive
, and if that means I have to walk from the business building to
[Whitener], then I will do that for a while,” Mullen said.
Some attempts were made last year to lower the cost of parking in
the parking deck, which included a recommendation from a campus
committee comprised of students, faculty and staff to raise parking
prices across the board from $100 to $180. Chancellor Francis T.
Borkowski and the administration were opposed to such a large parking-fee
hike and resolved to raise parking fees from $100 to $110, charging
a premium fee of $500 for use of the parking deck.
“It would have meant that our lowest-paid staff would have
to pay more money, and we didn’t want to put that burden on
them,” said Jane P. Helm, vice chancellor of Business Affairs.
The administration is currently planning to move faculty and staff
from Whitener Hall to Belk Library upon completion of the new library.
Whitener Hall will then be demolished and a new, state-funded parking
deck will be built in its place.
Sauls hopes the parking fees in the new deck, scheduled to be completed
in 2006, will be lower than the current parking deck fees, because
it is state-funded as opposed to university-funded.
The current parking deck is still being paid for and the administration
is unsure as to when or if parking deck fees will be lowered. |
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