Elusive parking spaces discovered

Our luck has run out. There is no parking anywhere. Foreign territory on campus has been explored and dismissed as an inconvenience. We know MHCC’s decision to revoke the parking permit program is at the heart of the problem. But some of us have found ourselves actually wishing the permit program was still in place, so we wanted to find out why MHCC decided to open up its parking lots to the public again.

In spring of 2010, a task force, comprised of students and faculty members, weighed two options that would increase security presence in MHCC parking lots while increasing school revenue, said Gael Blessing, MHCC director of institutional safety and security.

The options were implementing a parking fee or an access fee. As you may already know, the board implemented the parking fee in fall 2011.
When making its choice, Blessing said the board considered a number of factors. Two were that both PCC and local high schools charge a parking fee, and the board also took into account that many students didn’t drive to school, she said.

Blessing said while the parking permit program was in place, its revenue helped to add two new part-time officers, resulting in a decrease of auto thefts from 2010. The number went from 31 in 2010 to 14 in 2011 with the increased security.

But the program’s cons outweighed its benefits.

Jennifer Dement, MHCC director of finance, said the school charged students close to $40,000 in parking tickets, and “that’s just not what we wanted to be.” Above all, the parking program was expensive: The application process, printing and delivering the passes and enforcement all cost additional money.

The Access fee charges every enrolled student a flat. Dement said a sub-committee of the budget review team, tuition/fee analysis, is investigating options of limiting the fee to students enrolled in at least three credits. Any student with further questions about the access fee is encouraged to visit MHCC’s website, locate the ‘parking info’ link in the lower right of the page, and go to the Access Fee FAQ.

So, for everyone who was with us in blaming the access fee – or the lack of the parking fees – for making the parking lot too full, are only half right.
While there is a noticeable and even alarming increase in spots taken, there are spots available. You just need to know where to look.

One place we have wanted to see more parking available is around the modules near the existing “J” lot. Both Blessing and Dement acknowledged a plan to turn that area into parking was indeed an idea at one point, but the fact of the matter seems to be that, “when considering the condition of the parking lots, removing and repairing that space (is) not a top priority” said Dement.
For now, it looks like we will have to make do with what we have. And so we have taken the liberty of highlighting some options that can help reduce the stress that comes from trying to find parking.

Blessing explained how Public Safety employees did walking studies and found that walking from the middle of the “S” lot to the 1500 buildings takes five minutes. Not bad for what would be like walking from the Matterhorn to Indiana Jones at Disneyland, a trek that would take even the most experienced Mouseketeer at least 15 minutes.
Dement also suggested that students familiarize themselves with alternative routes from less popular lots, such as the “AM” lot.

“I usually draw a line on the map for visitors,” she said.

Another helpful study that Public Safety has done is record how many spots are taken in the morning and afternoon of the first Monday and Tuesday. These numbers are not posted but we feel they should be. We also think studies like these should be done more frequently and are urging Public Safety to do so. According to their records – L, M, N, P, H and all of the south side off Southeast 17th Street (the PE area) are some of the more regularly vacant lots.

Could it be that there are a whole lot of undiscovered spots just as convenient – if not more convenient – than the coveted front three (lots H, G, F)?
Although the initial shock, parking way, way back by the buses, a few days of walking from the PE parking lots, and remembering to bring an iPod, are helping make what seemed like a total waste of time and energy become more natural.

The walk gives us time to wake up and time for our coffee to cool down.

Advocate Staff