“’Good morning peeps! Wanna hear a joke? UW’s parking system,” the Yik-Yak message read.
UW may pride itself on being a “walking campus,” but the parking system is in dire need of a make over.
It is unfair to place students in a catch-22, where we can be late for class or risk paying for a parking ticket.
A spring “C” parking permit, which allows parking in front of the dorms, costs $41.92, according to Transit & Parking Services website. Transpark employees place bright orange tickets on cars, which sometimes break $100, with expired meters in front of Knight Hall daily. Parking is costly in more ways than one.
Enrollment is up this semester, but parking has not increased to meet demand. A big caveat of buying a “C” parking permit is that just because you have the permit doesn’t mean that there is an available spot. Landlords cash in on the parking problem by charging more for housing that is within walking distance.
A solution to our parking debacle is a parking garage. However, “This planning is still in the conceptual stage and will depend on future legislative support,” Mark Collins, the university’s associate vice president for Administrative Operations, wrote in an email. This means that the state has the power to grant the university money for the parking solution we so desperately need, if UW submits a report to the legislature by October 1.
Drawbacks for a parking garage are that they are ugly, expensive and dangerous. But they don’t have to be. This would be the chance for the university to put their money to a good use, to something that would benefit students, faculty and staff from all departments, and show that we can have a beautiful campus and not have to worry about parking. Who knows, it might even boost our No. 161 U.S. News & World Report college ranking.
Another western university, the University of Nebraska, has a parking garage. Look to one of the most beautiful and finically successful vacation destinations in this part of the country, the Vale ski area, as proof that a multi-story parking garage does not have to be an eye sore.
Security can be handled by installing some of those brown “Emergency” poles with the blue lights on top, security cameras and security personnel in the ticket office.
The garage could be viewed as an investment, where it would require a large one-time cost, but eventually pay for itself through parking fees.
The benefits outweigh the drawbacks.
Sara Axelson told the Branding Iron earlier this semester parking is consistently one of UW students’ top concerns in the student satisfaction survey. This year the ACT survey said that only 24 percent of students are satisfied with the parking situation.
It’s time to buck the trend and parking woes. Our campus needs to ask the state for the money to build a parking garage.
