Current Release: April 28th, 2009 | Vol. XXX Iss. 10

Parking proves problematic

By Jeni Meyers

jlmeyers@vwc.edu

Throughout the last couple years parking here at Virginia Wesleyan has gone from OK, to bad to worse. At the beginning of every year when students register for parking decals and we get a map showing what areas we aren’t allowed to park in. Generally these areas are the parking lot in front of Godwin, directly behind Village I and Village II and any places reserved for faculty/staff.

As a commuter my freshman year, I never really had any trouble finding a parking spot – and definitely never had the wonderful experience of having to park in the baseball field or Trinder Center lot. During my sophomore and junior year I decided to move onto campus, and parking was not too bad living in Village III. However, I noticed parking got gradually tighter as they added more faculty spots and the VWC population continued to grow. More frequently students had to park in the baseball field, and when parking in Village III was tight, residents began to park in the open grass areas.

This became a problem, because there was never anything telling students that there was no parking in the grass. Many of us assumed that since overflow parking went to the baseball field for Batten, it would not be an issue in Village III. Then security started passing out tickets to students who parked in these areas.

To save money, my senior year I decided to move back home and commute. It wasn’t until then I realized just how bad parking had got. The other day as I pulled onto campus for my 9:30 class, parking in both Batten and on the baseball field was full. I had to park in Trinder Center and walk all the way to Clarke. Luckily my classroom was on this side of campus, but how would that have been if my class was in Blocker? That scenario would have been worse because the option to park behind Blocker no longer exists. That parking lot is now closed due to construction on Village IV.

With the largest incoming freshman class yet, students are fighting for spots and if you have an afternoon class and are a commuter, it’s almost guaranteed you will have to park in the baseball field or further. Even campus residents now have to fight for parking. For students who live in North and South, they can often lose the limited parking in J-lot to students who live in the apartments and townhouses. Though, this year security is no longer passing out tickets for parking in the grass behind Village III. Instead they have drawn orange lines in the grass to indicate additional parking spots. The problem with parking in the baseball field and in the grass is that, unless you have a truck or SUV, it could potentially do some serious damage to your car. And on a rainy, muddy day? I just pray my little Kia Rio doesn’t get stuck in the mud or get a flat tire.

Another problem with parking is when the campus hosts events. When events are being held in Batten Center, the Batten parking lot is often blocked off to students and only those participating in the events are allowed to park there. This is unfair to the students who pay to go here, and already have to deal with limited parking.

Virginia Wesleyan is still considered a small private school. But as our population continues to grow, parking continues to shrink. As more on campus housing is added with Village IV expected to open this spring, perhaps it is time to think about adding another parking lot to campus. If something about parking isn’t done, where are students next year supposed to park - across the street?