The lack of parking space at Southern Utah University is deplorable. SUU gives out too many parking passes and does not, in turn, provide enough parking spaces to accommodate a large number of vehicles.
This may be a small school but there are still over 9,000 students in attendance. A smart investment would be to convert the P.E. building parking lot into a parking structure. Instead, we are getting a new business building which, in retrospect, is important considering how old the original one is, but it still works for its purpose. The residents living around SUU campus are having their space invaded by the vehicles of college students who have nowhere to park during the day.
I can rarely actually park in front of my house after school because there is usually a stranger’s car blocking my way. Occasionally they even park in our driveway. The school has run out of space to expand outwards so they should expand upwards. I don’t even own a parking permit because it is a waste of money unless you have an early class. If you go and look for a parking spot at 9:30 in the morning there are no open parking spots.
There are two obvious options to resolve this parking shortage. Either SUU can provide more access to parking or administration should give out fewer permits. If they decide to create more parking spaces, then there will be enough spots to fill all the permits and there will be fewer complaints from students. But if they cut down on how many permits are given out, then it will up the complaint level and SUU will lose money from permit sales. If they expand parking, they’re going to lose money for a while, paying for expanded parking, but they will start making money fairly quickly. Better yet, tear up that field next (soccer field) to the P.E. building that is never used and make even more parking lots. In all honesty, the easiest thing to do is sell fewer parking permits. It will cause more complaints, yes, but eventually they will die down. Something has to change. To paraphrase Ronald Reagan, “Mr. Wyatt, give us a parking lot!”
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Carlee Jo Blumenthal
opinion@suunews.net
