The Student News Site of Utica University

The Tangerine

The Student News Site of Utica University

The Tangerine

The Student News Site of Utica University

The Tangerine

Dealing with parking

Dealing+with+parking

Rebecca Vennero, Features Editor

Utica College is growing in numbers, not only with students, but also with cars.

One of the main issues affecting commuters, residents, faculty and staff is parking on campus. The majority of students know the struggle of arriving to campus late and being unable to find a close spot at their desired building.

“A new parking lot plan definitely needs to be discussed. There are more cars on campus now than ever before,” says Marissa Hajec, junior.

Angelo Romeo, senior, suggests expanding parking toward the grass football field and near the dome. This would allow for more parking near the popular buildings.

Campus safety has improved the flow of traffic this semester by removing 11 stop signs, adding speed bumps and DOT signs. However, there has not been any changes to parking regulations to improve the number of spots.

On campus, there is roughly 4,000 parking spots. In 2015, there were 2,463 registered vehicles for the academic year, according to director of campus safety, Wayne Sullivan. The amount of registered vehicles is expected to increase with the increase in freshmen and transfer students.

“When I can’t find an open space, I usually just find someone walking out to their car and ask if I can have their space when they leave,” Hajec said when sharing her parking tactics.

“I have found parking to be a trouble, especially when you have a mid-morning class, at like 10 or 11,” said Romeo.

Parking lots A and B tend to fill up the quickest with few students checking other lots, such as C or D, for availability. According to Sullivan, the lots fill quickly on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Sullivan wants people to understand if lots A and B are filled, they should check lot C for spaces.

The UC campus was designed to be walked from one point to another in no more than 15 minutes. Very few students check further lots to refrain from unnecessary walking.

“People don’t like to walk,” Sullivan continued, “there is always a minimum of 30 spots open at all times, but not always outside the building you’re going to.”

UC residents are not allowed to park on the academic side of campus. Brenna Lyons, junior, states that campus residents should be able to drive to a certain extent. “If you’re already living on campus and there is nice weather, there is no reason to drive to class.”

“Students who live on campus should not be able to drive to class. This is completely unnecessary, especially since we need parking spots available to commuter students and faculty,” said Hajec.

Campus safety issues a certain number of tickets each semester. “Most tickets are for unregistered vehicles, very few are for residents,” Sullivan said.

In order to prevent parking troubles, students should arrive early to class in case they need to park in a further lot and walk to their buildings.

Students can register their car(s) online at https://www. utica.edu/finance/environment/safety/registration. cfm.

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