2008 Woodie Awards
UA needs to address parking problems
Freshman Confessions
Brian Washburn
Issue date: 4/4/08 Section: Opinion
This first year of college for me has been such an experience; it's been good and bad in different ways. I've found you rarely get the required amount of sleep in a residence hall and that you hardly have the energy, or sometimes the time, to exercise. I've learned that money is spent rapidly (or at least it seems like it is). However, I've found the most money is spent on the strangest thing: parking tickets.
Seriously, I have friends who have paid more for parking tickets than they would have spent to purchase a Harmon parking pass. But even though they probably shouldn't have parked in reserved parking in the first place, there has to be a better way to conduct parking on the UA campus.
Of course, on campus, we do have a few resources that work to our advantage: the UA buses, the parking garages and numerous lots spread across the campus.
However, sometimes you can't wait long enough for a bus to pick you up or drop you off, the garages cost more than most people can afford and the parking lots (the few that aren't reserved 24/7) are miles away from your destination.
So, even with these resources, parking still poses a problem that confuses, frustrates and downright annoys many on-campus students.
The biggest problem I have is not only with the access to or the distance between parking lots and destinations, but with equality, as well.
At the beginning of the year, I purchased a Harmon parking pass because of the close proximity of the garage to my residence hall. It has been a convenience having the pass, but on weekends, the garage seems unusually full. The reason for this could be that Harmon opens its gates all weekend for everyone.
This was not a problem until I parked my car overnight in the Resident Reserved parking lot directly outside my dorm one weekend. This was done because I felt ill that night and did not think I could physically make it from Harmon to my room. However, the next morning I woke up and found a ticket on a majority of the cars parked in the lot. Why should students not be able to park in reserved lots on the weekend if the same luxury is offered at Harmon?
Seriously, I have friends who have paid more for parking tickets than they would have spent to purchase a Harmon parking pass. But even though they probably shouldn't have parked in reserved parking in the first place, there has to be a better way to conduct parking on the UA campus.
Of course, on campus, we do have a few resources that work to our advantage: the UA buses, the parking garages and numerous lots spread across the campus.
However, sometimes you can't wait long enough for a bus to pick you up or drop you off, the garages cost more than most people can afford and the parking lots (the few that aren't reserved 24/7) are miles away from your destination.
So, even with these resources, parking still poses a problem that confuses, frustrates and downright annoys many on-campus students.
The biggest problem I have is not only with the access to or the distance between parking lots and destinations, but with equality, as well.
At the beginning of the year, I purchased a Harmon parking pass because of the close proximity of the garage to my residence hall. It has been a convenience having the pass, but on weekends, the garage seems unusually full. The reason for this could be that Harmon opens its gates all weekend for everyone.
This was not a problem until I parked my car overnight in the Resident Reserved parking lot directly outside my dorm one weekend. This was done because I felt ill that night and did not think I could physically make it from Harmon to my room. However, the next morning I woke up and found a ticket on a majority of the cars parked in the lot. Why should students not be able to park in reserved lots on the weekend if the same luxury is offered at Harmon?
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