Many Students Face Same Problem: Address It

Many Students Face Same Problem: Address It

by Hanna Russmann

We have all seen it. That one car parked so badly that it messes up all the other parking in the lot, and at Simpson, that is a problem.

The Simpson parking situation is bad enough without that one car messing it all up. In the freshmen area there is the Barker lot, Goodwill, the baseball lot, the fraternity lot and parking at the municipal pool. It sounds like a lot of parking, but it’s really not.

Goodwill, the baseball lot, the fraternity lot and the municipal pool are really far away from the freshmen dorms. Granted, Goodwill is the closet being four blocks away, but no one wants to walk a long way to get to his or her car.

Another part of the parking problem is the fact the spaces aren’t clearly marked. The Buxton parking lot lines are so faded that anyone that parks there at night can’t even see where the lines are with their headlights on.

It doesn’t help that an e-mail was sent out stating the lines would be repainted over Fall Break and much to residents’ surprise the parking lot lines look as faded as ever.

And then there are the issues of snow ordinances. When the snow ordinances come out, the parking lots are filled to the max.

Not only are the parking lots filled with cars, but they are also filled with snow. Having snow drifts in small parking lots, like Simpson has, complicates the parking problem even more.

Twice as many cars, plus half the number of space, equals nowhere to park.

Some of these problems can be fixed by expanding lots or even by making the designated spaces easier to see. Doesn’t SGA have $40,000 it wants to use? Why doesn’t it invest in solving a problem that affects a majority of students?

I know we cannot rid ourselves of the problems that snow causes, but we should try to fix parking issues by changing the things we can control.