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 By David Dacus / STUDENT PUBLICATIONS |
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Greg, feel free to write any cutline that you think is appropriate here. You saw the people. You know how angry they were. And why didn't you give them Chuckles? That wasn't very nice. Anyway, you get the point. Online Editor's Note: Yep, that caption was one of the many little mistakes we make here at the Technique. Why not come by room 137 of Student Services and make some mistakes for yourself? If you hang around long enough, you might become important enough to make a mistake as glaring as the one above. |
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Instead, that's how long hundreds upon hundreds of students waited in line to obtain parking permits on Monday, the first day that new permit applications and change-of-zone requests were processed.
Some waited longer. Some camped out overnight in anticipation of a long line. Some arrived shortly before the doors opened at 7:30 a.m., only to find that the line wound around the parking lot, climbed Hemphill Avenue, and coiled around Center Street Apartments, according to those on the scene.
Some passed around a petition of complaint, and another calling for the resignation of John Nolte, Director of Parking and Transportation. A number recalled last year's wait, which was well under an hour and a half, with a covered tent and an electronic sign board indicating which zones were still available. Some left to get lunch and come back. Many got drenched in the rain. And nearly all were disgusted.
"This is ludicrous," said Daniel Guich, a first-year graduate student who had waited nearly eight hours to reach the front of the line-during which time the R06 permit he desired sold out. He got an R03-zoned permit instead.
Still outside at 4:00, having arrived at 7:30, Rainey Bice, also a first-year graduate student, commented, "It's hot. It's been raining. I'm pissed, and I want my parking permit.Š I think they should at least offer us free permits and drinks for this."
"We've wasted an entire day.Š This is a huge disappointment as to what my dollars are being used for," said Jill Marks, a Junior waiting replace her R03 residential permit with an A05 commuter permit.
Nolte said on Monday night, "My observations have been that while the lines have been long, I think the processing has gone rather smoothly. For what we were working with, I think it was working well, and credit should go to the students for that." Few changes had been made during the day to streamline operations, other than some appearances by workers outside the office.
He noted that despite the long processing time this year, the number of cashiers was "fairly consistent from one year to the next." Last year, student purchases were separated from faculty and staff permits and ticketed fine payments. This year, that was not done. Instead, customer service was consolidated into one area. "I think it's a little smoother process," Nolte said.
According to Edna Hicks, now in her 25th year working at the parking office, "Last year, we were outside and were able to spread out. But we didn't have the control we needed, so this year we brought it inside. We have four full-time cashiers." Noting the use of experienced cashiers this year, she said, "For us, it has gone more smoothly in terms of serving the students."
Several students, however, were so disgusted that they wrote letters to Georgia Tech President Wayne Clough expressing their disapproval.
The delays in making renewal packets available stemmed, in part, from zone changes resulting from the gating of parking areas and decks, and from the planned closing of administrative parking on the Hill. The approval process was not complete until late in the summer.
The renewal packets were then sent to home addresses instead of campus mailboxes because of what Nolte deemed "difficulties in extracting the correct information from the computer system. I apologize for that. It's regrettable, and was certainly not what we were trying to do."
Asked why the approval meetings were scheduled so late, Nolte said, "Getting a lot of people together takes time."
Parking processed all of those who had been in line by closing time, finishing at 8:30 Monday night, having also offered to collect forms in order and batch process them instead.
At 4:00 a.m. on Tuesday, people were already camped out for day two. At the end of the day Tuesday, R01 and R04 (East Campus street parking, and Peter's Parking Deck, respectively) were still available, as were R02 and R05 for family housing, but nothing was available for West Campus residents. R03 and R06 had sold out, as well as the P03 areas at the edge of campus. For commuters, only 6 of the smaller "A"-zoned lots remained.
The office is trying to accommodate those who turned in an application for West-Campus residential parking after spaces ran out. "That gets back to the issue of how much do we oversell," said Nolte. "We've tried to hold down that oversell. If we could squeeze a few more out and ensure space availability, we would at least look at that."
Nolte expects that permits will be sent to those who renewed "by the end of [this] week." For those that waited in line this week, "We're going to give them the choice of picking them up. Putting it in their post office box is the other option." He believes they will also be ready by the end of the week.
Changes are underway to streamline the operation. Next year, plans are in the works to institute a Web-based registration system, similar to the system housing uses, rather than having students stand in line. The office is also hiring three new employees: an assistant director, an administrative coordinator, and an evening supervisor. The first two are new positions.
The line was just another in a series of parking mishaps that prior to Monday had reached a peak when parents flooded the areas near the Student Center and the Robert Ferst Center for the Arts for FASET Orientation. However, only one level out of three in the parking deck was open.
Sandblasting and painting also damaged several cars in the deck, and some cars were towed.