|
news
Parking Problems
Eased; Still Needs Improvement
By Yoshinori
Okada
Special to the Online Forty-Niner
As weeks go by,
the persistent trouble of tight-packed parking lots shows
a slight improvement. Perhaps the worst of times are over,
but parking at CSULB is still the target of complaints among
many on campus.
Since the starting
of spring semester at Cal State Long Beach, students everyday
rush into and drive around every parking lot looking for their
nice spot.
"It's ridiculous,"
Vicky Linn, a junior broadcasting student, grumbles. "It
takes an hour to find a spot," she said.
Currently, there
are roughly 35,000 students enrolled, 1,500 faculty members
and other staff in the school. Yet, the total number of parking
spaces available is about 12,000, nearly a third of the number
of people.
"The number
of parking spaces is not the cause for the problem but it's
the students-- they come to school at the same time,"
Nash Carillo, Parking and Transportation services director,argued.
By the engineers'
calculation, 12,000 parking spaces should have solved the
problem.
"Peak hour
is about between 10am to 3pm, especially on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Many students try to schedule 2-days-a-week school days,"
Carillo said.
As a possible solution,
Parking and Transportation Services encourages the students
and the school officials to use a ride share program, such
as the bus, carpool and bike-ride to the campus. However,
such programs aren't quite successful.
Not too many students
can bike or ride the bus to campus. Naturally, the majority
of the students prefer driving to taking the bus or the bike,
or finding someone to share the carpool spaces. Many students
don't even see those as viable options.
"The space
should be available anytime for all of us because we students
pay fees for it," said Satoshi Imamasa, a sophomore computer
science major. "The school needs to construct another
parking structure immediately."
Every student hopes
the school will offer more spaces.
"The problem
is the land, we don't have enough spaces for another parking
lot," Carillo said. Now, the sound solution relies basically
on the construction of another parking structure.
The good news is
that an examination by engineers and a consulting company
for possible sites for the parking structure is underway.
"The final
report is coming out by the end of the semester," Carillo
said. The report will suggest building the parking structure
on lots 7, 11 or 16.
The bad news though
is the budget and the time. Approximately $30 million are
needed for the construction, which will in turn raise parking
permitis to $50-$60.
Moreover, the 600 or 700 parking spaces on the construction
site are expected to be unavailable for at least a couple
of semesters while the construction goes on. Parking is already
full and it will not be easy to make up for those lost spaces.
To overcome this
tough hurdle, Parking Services plans to lease students public
parking places nearby campus with a discount, together with
keeping encouraging the use of the rideshare program.
But the sole effort
of the Parking Services won't change the situation.
Solution of the
parking crunch will need the cooperation of the students,
staff and faculty members.
Links:
http://www.acs.csulb.edu/
(CSULB homepage)
http://daf.csulb.edu/offices/ppfm/parking/services.html
(Parking and Transportation Services)
http://www.csulb.edu/feedback/feedback_form.htm
(comments & feedback)
|
