Letter to the editor: Realize parking problems are widespread

Dear Mast Staff,

I appreciate your column about the difficulties of parking on campus as a commuter student. I learned that we have a parking committee made up of staff and students on campus, which was news to me. As a senior, I had never heard of this before and I think a lot of students who do struggle with parking would be happy to know this exists.

I wish this committee would make “drastic changes” to parking that they have failed to do “in years,” as Greg Premo and Jennifer Gierke from Campus Safety said.

Since there have not been significant changes to this outstanding problem, I am having the same issue of convenience as commuters and staff as an on-campus resident.

As you stated in your article, staff and commuters do have the most options for parking on campus. As a student living on-campus, I think this is unfair—so I chose to pay $130 for the academic year to park my car in the South Hall Gated Lot.

In this lot, each student is assigned a parking spot number. These numbers are painted in the respective parking stalls. Depending on when you register your vehicle, you are assigned a number closer or further away from South Hall.

Since I lived in South Hall last year, I knew to register my car during the summer to get a closer spot. To get into the South lot, you must swipe your Lute Card, much like the Tinglestad lot. The exit gate is motion censored, so a Lute Card is not required.

My friend, junior Kyle Parsons, said that he thinks the South lot isn’t as safe as the Tingelstad lot, because of the entry and exit styles, not to mention the South lot isn’t completely enclosed. People from off campus can — and do — easily walk into the lot.

I think Campus Safety needs to have better rules, regulations and parking lots.  My parking spot has been taken nearly a dozen times this year.

When this happens, I call Campus Safety to tell them the person’s South Hall decal number if they have one, their license plate and my parking number.

The first time I called, Campus Safety told me to park in someone else’s spot.

The second time, Campus Safety told me an unassigned spot to park in.

The third time, I was told to park outside of the South Hall lot even though I am paying more than $100 to be able to park my car in the gated lot.

Even though paying the extra money is supposed to “guarantee” me a safe parking spot, I have become increasingly frustrated every time I return back to campus because I don’t know if my spot will be open or not.

I do not appreciate having to pay the extra money out of my own pocket when I am not getting what I paid for. It is easy to wonder what the point of having rules if they aren’t going to be enforced.

Taylor Lunka, PLU senior

For more information on committees at PLU including the parking committee, please visit
http://www.plu.edu/asc/committees/home.php

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