Structures
planned to alleviate parking stress
By
Jacqueline Pedroza
Daily Forty-Niner
Contributing Writer
The
idea of building a new parking structure
began back in September of 2001. The entire
planning process has finally come to an
end and construction will begin in spring
2005.
Parking
is a huge stress for students. Many students
arrive at school one to two hours before
their actual class begins in order to
find a parking spot.
Fellow
student, Victor Dam arrives to school
at nine in the morning and his class does
not start until eleven. "I arrive
two hours before my first class begins
just to be sure I get a parking spot,"
he said. Dam also added that the only
answer to this problem is building another
parking structure.
According
to Tom Bass, senior director of parking
and transportation, the new parking structures
will add 2,000 parking spaces and will
be completed by 2007. One of the structures
will be located at the center of lot 11
and the other structure will be at the
far north section of lot 11.
Bass
also said that the parking permit charges
will increase from $63 to $98. The increase
will begin in Spring 2005.
Senior
Georgette Rivas, said a new parking structure
will make parking less of a headache,
"The only way of improving the parking
situation would be to build more parking
lots."
Construction
of the new structures will temporarily
impact 900 to 1,200 parking spaces in
order to accommodate the first floor of
the structures. During this time, parking
and transportation services will shuttle
students to off-campus parking locations
where they can park for free the entire
semester.
There
are other services available to help make
parking a little less stressful for students.
Students can tune to AM 1690 for up-to-date
traffic information. There is also the
Beach Cruiser, in which students park
off campus at the Veteran's Memorial Stadium
a couple of miles away from campus. The
shuttle picks students up and drops them
off. It runs every 10 minutes Monday through
Thursday, is free and you don't need a
parking permit.
For
more information regarding the Beach Cruiser
or if you have any other questions regarding
parking, stop by the parking services
building.
