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survival
guide
Avoiding parking
hassles
By Max Evans
Special to the On-line Forty-Niner
Jason Gutierrez,
22, is looking forward to graduating from Cal State Long Beach
after this year with a degree in business. What Gutierrez
is not looking forward to is the campus parking situation.
"It's terrible
trying to find parking at the beginning of semester,"
said Gutierrez, who commutes from Palos Verdes. "It gets
better after about a month when everybody starts to miss or
drop their classes."
Tom Bass, senior
director of Parking, Transportation, and Events Services at
CSULB, advises students such as Gutierrez to leave an hour
earlier the first three weeks of school.
"The more
students we get, the more cars there are," Bass said.
"We are looking at a very trying beginning to this semester."
The peak parking
times are Tuesday and Thursday between 11 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.,
Bass said. Three times last year, during these peak times,
all 12,500 parking spaces at CSULB were occupied.
To provide more
parking, Bass also advises students to be more prompt in leaving
after they are done with their classes.
"Please be
civil, it's only a parking space," Bass said. "We
don't want any parking rage at school."
Parking and Transportation
Services is prepared to provide students with overflow parking
when needed. Signs and electronic portable marquees will direct
drivers to the shotput field in front of The Pyramid and to
the red curbs on Earl Warren Drive near the Japanese Gardens.
"Alternate
modes of transportation that do not require a parking spot
are by bike, roller blade, bus, and the Campus Connection,"
Bass said.
The Campus Connection
provides rides for students who live just west of CSULB. The
shuttle runs every 20 minutes Monday through Thursday, 7 a.m.
to 11 p.m., and Friday, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. This service requires
a special identification card, which is provided for free
by Parking and Transportation Services.
Carpooling permits
are also available. A carpooling permit allows students to
park closer to their classes than non-carpooling students.
Carpooling students who are caught parking with less than
two people in a car have their permits taken away, Bass said.
Parking and Transportation
Services is located in Lot D1, in front of the parking structure.
Semester parking permits are sold at Parking and Transportation
Services for $63, a price that hasn't increased since 1994.
Students can avoid
long lines by calling Parking and Transportation Services
for an appointment, Bass said.
Under state law,
all money received by CSULB through parking permits, parking
meters and parking fees for school sporting events go directly
to Parking and Transportation Services, Bass said. This pays
for the parking lots to be swept weekly, the Campus Connection
and funds the library's late-night police escort service.
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