By Stephanie Woodward |Staff Writer|
Finding parking on campus has always been difficult and, in my opinion, has only gotten worse.
Our campus should allocate money to increase parking spaces for students instead of simply renovating the lots for looks.
Our student body consists of 10 percent freshmen and over 30 percent seniors, according to the CSUSB website.
With incoming freshmen and an abundance of seniors, parking space is becoming more difficult.
CSUSB parking director, Ron Profeta, explains that sales for Fall 2014 parking permits was over projected by three percent.
From Fall 2013 to Fall 2014, the number of students has increased by about 550, according to Tanner Carollo, assistant administrative director of institutional research.
Parking lot renovations were completed over the summer but additional parking spaces were not included.
“There are no new parking spaces. What was done over the summer was a renovation of parking lot C,” said Profeta.
Lot C was run down since it had not been renovated in years and needed to be improved, according to Profeta.
If our school is going to spend money on parking renovations, the primary issue that should be addressed is increasing the number of parking spaces.
Students have been forced to park curbside along the lot since there are not enough spaces.
Students are spending $102 a quarter on parking permits, and for that much money parking should be easier to find.
Students can also buy daily parking passes for $5 at the Information Center or at any of the 15 parking permit dispensers located throughout campus.
The Information Center often has a huge line of cars waiting to buy passes, which just adds more time to finding a parking space.
Several students on campus said the average time it took them to find parking after 9 a.m. was 15 minutes.
“It usually takes me about 15 minutes to find parking,” said senior Hadia Bendelhoum.
Despite students having difficulty getting to class on time due to this frequent issue, Bendelhoum said her teachers are fairly understanding.
“Parking is always bad and is not getting any better, fall quarter is always the worst,” said senior Ryan Garrett.
If you want parking to be a breeze, some tips from fellow students would be to, according to student Shelby Hancock, “Get to school early. At 7:30 a.m., it is never an issue.”
“If you follow students walking to their car, you can often snag their spot,” suggested junior Raneem Alameddine.
Make sure when parking in any of the lots you have a permit displayed on your dashboard to avoid being fined by the quarterly parking permit enforcement.
There is a link on the Parking Services website for comments and suggestions. If you have any concerns, don’t hesitate to let them know.
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