Under the guidance of John Nolte, Director of Parking and Transportation, several changes are slated to occur around campus in the forthcoming months. Among these changes is a relocation of all visitor parking to the lot outside the Student Center.
Although the Student Center deck continues to be available for general use, the Student Center lot is to be used for visitor parking only during the day. In addition, those who park in the visitor parking lot will be charged one dollar per hour, up to a maximum of four dollars per day.
Although the Student Center deck is still available for general student use with the appropriate permit, this move did create a decrease in student parking around the Student Center.
To offset this effect, metered parking will be installed on Ferst Drive near the Student Center. These meters will provide 15 minutes of parking free of charge to allow for short trips into the Student Center. Beyond the first 15 minutes, up to 90 minutes of additional time can be purchased The idea was established to increase the turnover in these spaces.
This new policy is one part of a campus-wide restructuring of parking. This restructuring is in response to a number of problems with parking on campus. Although construction will be eliminating about 35 spaces, the main problem deals with the enforcement of parking regulations, especially those regarding unpermitted vehicles.
Many vehicles parked on campus are unregistered. In fact, over 24,000 citations were issued last year for unregistered vehicles. These vehicles take up space that is reserved for vehicles with a permit.
According to Nolte, this lack of vehicles stems from a lack of awareness of the fact that "parking is a resource, not a right, that costs money and is funded by user fees."
In order to better protect parking spaces for those who have paid for them and to increase turnover in high-traffic locations, other meter systems will be installed along Fourth Street behind the library and around residence halls where RHA and the parking office feel they are necessary.
In addition, the parking office is looking at adding parking between the Center Street Apartments and Tenth Street and also by the Aquatics Center. Although it is not guaranteed that parking will be created in these areas, that possibility is being explored.
Improvements are also scheduled to be made to the parking decks themselves. A lighting consultant has been hired to evaluate the lighting in the decks, and changes should be made as soon as the results of the evaluation are in. The additional lighting provided should improve safety.
The final component of parking and transportation that is being changed is the Stinger and Stingerette services. Stinger routes are being redesigned to improve connections to MARTA and to increase the frequency and efficiency with which the buses operate.
The Stingerette service is completely student-run. Therefore, there is not a great deal that the parking office can do in order to make improvments to the service.
The limiting factor of the service is the number of drivers, more of which are definitely needed if the quality of the service is to improve. For more details on this paid position, contact Carlton Morgan at 894-2498.
"Parking is a resource, not a right."
--John Nolte
Director of Parking and Transportation
