Florala

Issue date: 3/6/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Danny Harrell I?want to ride my bicycle-This empty bike rack behind the Visual Arts building is a good place to park, as it's usually empty.

Parking is a problem with many universities, so UNA students are not alone when it comes to the issue, but UNA has advantages over some other universities when it comes to parking.

UNA has a number of parking lots that many students may not know about.

"Since Public Safety came to Student Affairs, parking has been the most asked about issue," said David Shields, vice president of Student Affairs. "Parking is a universal problem with universities in this country."

Shields said that an advantage UNA students have over students at other universities is that UNA students have very few restrictions: freshmen can have cars on campus, lots are open late at night and students aren't restricted to certain lots. One of the disadvantages of having open parking lots that are open to faculty and students is that students park in faculty spots and faculty park in student lots.

"People complain about parking, but if we were at a larger university it would be worse," said Chelsea Jenkins, a UNA art major. "If you were at a lager university, you might have to pay to park."

Shields said that there aren't very many people that ride the shuttle that goes to the parking lots around campus.

"We could explore and examine if the UNA shuttle could go down to the Florence parking deck," Shields said, "but if no one parks there it wouldn't be a wise choice."

"There are parking spaces, but they're just really far away," said Katie Greesling, a UNA art major. "No one wants to walk that far."

"Certain lots get high concentration in the morning and are not available later in the day," Shields said. "Part of finding a good parking spot is getting here early."

Shields said that there are no new parking lots unless they are attached to new buildings or facilities that are being built right now.

"I don't have my own parking spot, and neither do any of the other vice presidents," Shields said. "I wouldn't advocate for my own personal spot." He said that he has many days in which he has to walk to his office from lots that aren't close to it.

Shields said that Public Safety is looking at adding an additional officer to work part-time and just enforce parking. "They will do nothing but write tickets," he said.

Shields said that when Public Safety was down in staffing they couldn't enforce parking as much.

"We are going to add some additional penalties for excessive parking violations," he said. "If a person exceeds the parking violation limit, they may lose their right to park on campus."

Public Safety has a golf cart that they will use to go from parking lot to parking lot around campus.

"We are more consistently enforcing our parking now," Shields said.

Shields suggests that students who live close to campus walk or ride their bike.

"Parking is not an easy thing to solve," Shields said. "It's not a black and white issue. We will continue to look at ideas, solutions and enforcement ideas to best serve the UNA community."

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