Hell and Parking

It happened last semester. I had to blink a few times. There, off in the distance: the first parking space at the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation building was empty, the spot closest to Seventh Street, a mere hop, skip and a jump away from my Indiana Daily Student office. No one else had it, and no one else would have it. It was mine. All mine. \nThis moment sticks out in my mind because my other parking experiences haven't been so thrilling.\nYou don't need me to tell you that sometimes as you're looking for a parking space in the middle of campus on a busy afternoon, circling lot after lot, the clock ticking away, it feels like you've got Virgil and Dante riding shotgun. It's like trying to find a space at the mall during Christmas season, except the frustration lasts August through April.\nIt's vexing, and I know I'm not the only one who feels it. The Bloomington Faculty Council voted March 21 to support, in only an advisory role, an ad-hoc parking study committee's recommendation to limit the sale of A and C parking permits to faculty and staff only. \nThe report recommended five changes, including the current universal bus transportation fee and the new garage slated for construction, but slashing permits is certainly the most controversial. Although it recommended cutting student permits, the report ultimately doesn't cut to the two-pronged heart of the matter: 1) We must realize we are addicted to an overly convenient parking situation, and \n2) Not all parking spaces are created equal.\nIU has too many parking passes, and those passes grossly outnumber of the number of available spaces. Logically you have to have more tags than spaces so that cars can come and go, but the current statistics are mind-boggling. Right now, there are 2.6 permits for every A space and 1.7 permits for every C space, a greater ratio than any other Big Ten university. More than 700 nonteaching students somehow managed to get an A pass last year, an utterly outrageous figure, but eliminating all students would only decrease the statistic to 2.3 permits for every A space and 1.3 permits for every C space, still far from being manageable.\nStudents have alternatives, primarily walking if you're near the campus. Also, each bus in this city is pre-paid, either through fees or by virtue of University IDs, and conveniently shuttles students to and from class. The buses aren't always the most convenient way to travel, but often they are the most practical at a campus designed for horse travel of the 18th century, not SUV travel of the 21st century.\nIt makes sense that we need to cut back drastically on student A passes, but elimination just creates unnecessary animus. Graduate students, for example, teach as well and should be able to put in for a permit if they can afford it. A more reasonable solution would be a stricter litmus test for A passes, including passes only for those who can prove they work a certain number of hours per week in an area that requires a certain level of permit to park and proof that your home is far enough from your teaching location that a car is imperative. \nBut students aren't the only guilty culprits in this parking game. I readily accept that professors need parking more, just as it should be, but they should exercise discretion as well. Many don't live within walking distance of the University, but some do, and if we're going to expect parking to get any better on this campus, professors who can bite the bullet need to as well. Similarly with graduate students, another approach would be to sell A permits to professors who can prove an imperative need to commute to campus via their cars.\nThe University needs to step up, too. Encourage more biking by providing more racks outside of buildings and painting in more biking lanes. (How about starting with Third Street?) Realize that building another parking garage will only be effective if we don't increase the number of permits given out. Allow daytime staff members to park for reduced rates in the Union parking lots instead of in A spots. Also, and perhaps most importantly, recognize that not all parking places are created equal. An A spot in the Ballantine Hall garage is obviously not the same as an A spot outside Eigenmann Hall, but as long as you have an A permit, they're the same. \nIt's been famously said that there's always a spot available on campus, it's just never where you want it to be. That could very well be true, but it also avoids the issue. Maybe we're due for another level of parking, one more geographically centered than what we have now. \nThe semester of the Immaculate Parking Space next to the HPER was the semester I had an A decal for my car. I shelled out the money because I was pulling 13- or 14-hour days five days a week, taking classes and working as one of the IDS managing editors. Most of the time, I never could find a spot, but I still kept driving into campus. (If parking corrupts, then A-parking corrupts absolutely.)\nBut this semester, I'm without my A decal and back to the basics, and it's liberating. I'm walking to class and I'm taking the bus. I'm certainly feeling less stressed than I did when I was spending half my day searching for a parking space. (Ironically enough, it often took more time than if I had just walked or ridden the bus.)\nThe key is exercising discretion and giving up a little to gain a lot. If you -- the student, the professor, the staff member, etc. -- don't need a car to get into campus, then don't drive your car into campus. Before we eliminate permits, or build garages, or scream at each other again, we have to realize that's going to be the first and most logical step to beginning to solve our parking crisis.