A new school year has begun and that means everyone’s nightmare, parking on campus, is yet again a reality. The first week back seemed like a circus with people racing just to find a spot, and if they were out of luck, they chose to park on the grass or park other places. The struggle of finding parking has led to being late for classes and receiving tickets because there was simply no place to park. The Xavierite Staff believes that the school should come up with a plan to add more lots on campus to accommodate the large amount of commuters.
Saint Xavier commuters make up well over 50 percent of the student population, which obviously means there is a heavy amount of traffic coming in and out of campus on a daily basis. There are only 12 ½ lots located on campus and a majority of them are located far away from the destination that students are trying to get to. The most popular, and well-sought after, lots are the ones located in front of the Warde Academic Center and the Campus Bookstore because they are more convenient for people to get to and from classes with ease. These prime lots are the quickest to fill, and if you want any of these spots, you would have to arrive on campus pretty early. Why should students have to worry about the possibility of not finding a parking spot?
The Xavierite Staff thinks it would be great if new lots were placed on campus. The large, vacant grassy area in front of Warde could be utilized as a parking lot to give commuters more places to park. Another thought that the staff had was to possibly transform O’Brien into a parking garage. Since O’Brien is no longer being used, due to lack of students living on campus, this would be the perfect opportunity to transform the former residence hall into a parking garage. Instead of tearing the building down or turning it into an office space, the school could provide something useful for the students. This would allow cars to park in one space and reduce the amount of cars out in the lots.
Or, the school could always return to the parking permit system. It might not sound ideal to the average commuter student, but it was a system that worked. The upside to this system is that the school makes a little more money by selling parking permits. It will also solve the crowded lots situation since students who are actually willing to pay for them would, while other students would rather save their money.
Overall, the parking situation on campus has been an issue that will probably never go away unless a plan to fix the problem is put into action. Why deal with the daily stress of rushing to campus to get a parking spot, or sitting in class nervously wondering if you got a parking ticket or not, when you could just conveniently park in organized parking lots without a hassle? There are multiple solutions to this predicament, but it is up to Saint Xavier to decide what should be done.
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