The Hurricane ran an article not too long ago regarding the closing of parking lots during Convocation Center (C-Center) events and how resident students were pissed off about the policies. Did anyone bother to ask commuter students how they felt? After all, the blocked-off lots are commuter lots. And the answer is: No, they didn’t.
Let’s think about this for a second.
UM charges $300 for a commuter parking pass, then charges $30 on average for a C-Center event ticket, riles support from the attendants of the events for donation money and cashes in on $20 parking citations for commuters caught parking in resident lots. Hmm. The priorities are becoming clear.
So the money-crunching bigwigs at UM are to blame. Big surprise.
Here is a typical scenario for a commuter: You get to the VIP lot with a trunk full of snacks for your starving resident friends who live on Chartwells, only to pull into the lot and be harassed by a parking attendant who tells you to park in Ponce. Yeah, right – my sushi will be warm before I even reach my undernourished dependents!
I’m told I can’t park in the lot because the lot is for C-Center VIP guests only.
Hell, I’m VIP. With what I pay for tuition, I could go to a trillion C-Center events. And don’t even try to sneak into the Snake lot, because the ranting and raving will only increase, along with the threat of towing and parking citations.
My friend once called the Parking and Transportation Department to complain about the situation. Apparently they have no authority to change the parking situation, nor do they know who does.
Solution? Well, how about all the commuters on campus (60 percent of total student body) boycott this ludicrous parking monopoly and pool the collective $300 instead. This newly established “Student Parking Fund” (SPF) would be used with a committee and e-board to organize payment of parking citations.
If interested in this initiative, please complete a membership or e-board application, soon to be developed by me.
Amy S. Lawrence can be contacted at aslawrence@umiami.edu.