At first, I too fell into the anti-general-permit camp. Why change the usual method? What happened to make parking a free-for-all? What about senior benefits? Then, two things came to mind.
First, a memory from last January resurfaced. I had desperately needed a permit after returning from a study-away. For two or three days in a row at the start of J-term, I marched down to the Parking Office only to find it unmanned. I was nervous and impatient, as I couldn’t just turn around and drive four hours back home. I wanted to talk to a real human being. One day, in the basement of Tomson, I ran into a dispatcher who told me that Associate Director of Public Safety, Zita Toth, was “essentially the entire Parking Office.” After writing a consciously subdued, humble email — and with the assurance from a Pub Safe officer (in the flesh) that I wouldn’t be ticketed — my anxiety cooled. Within a few days, I got my parking permit. Later that week, I returned to the underground maze of hidey-hole offices to leave brownies.
The second item that came to mind: recently, on a busy day, I hoped to fit in a workout after grocery shopping. Returning to campus, my first thought was to try for Lincoln Lot. Then I paused and realized how illogical that notion was. Why not just park in Skoglund? I could work out, head to my scheduled duties, and then try my luck at re-parking in Lincoln Lot afterwards.
Here’s the way I see it: daily capacity for work is never fixed; we each have an “a-time” during our day in which we are most efficient. To have access to whatever building we need to use that productivity — free of the worry of a citation — is a gift. Yes, you could argue that Skoglund might have been full anyway. But considering how active we are as Oles in so many different areas of life, at the very least, the potential to park on the premise of activity rather than residence makes a difference.
Thus, my opinion on the general-parking debate grounds itself not in technicalities but in humanities. For Townhouse folks who quite likely cook more than Thorson residents, and who would benefit from those coveted Lincoln Lot spots with their groceries, I can understand their defense of assigned permits. As a New Hall resident myself, it’s more pleasant to haul everything up in one trip and then settle in. But at the same time, for every senior or townhouse resident who wants special deference, there’s a person who has to painstakingly read an application and allot an appropriate permit relative to every other student’s needs.
I propose we add more parking spots, especially to Lincoln Lot, whilst encouraging the college to work towards increasing the parking office’s faculty. These moves would lessen students’ frustration in spending an extra 12 minutes walking across campus. In the meantime, we can soothe ourselves with meditation with Laurel on Tuesdays and this reminder: not everything needs to be fixed right away. Not everything is a race. We deserve time to breathe and stroll, appreciating life on this beautiful campus, our beautiful campus.
