So there I was on a Tuesday morning, driving from lot to lot in search for the best parking spot I could find. My class was going to start in five minutes, so I checked the parking garage first. I circled the garage, up to the roof and back down, only to realize it was completely full.
“Are you serious?” I said to myself. I was mad. I felt inconvenienced.
I went to Lot O, which feels a bit like the forbidden lot — the lot that all of the unwanted students are sent to —but it was full as well. It wasn’t until I returned to the parking garage and once again made a four-story trek to the roof that I was finally able to secure a spot.
Commuter students like me know this experience all too well. It isn’t hard to start a conversation with people about the parking problem Webster’s campus has.
But the more I started to think about it, the more I realized we are all getting way more upset over this parking problem than we should be.
Like most people, I am usually on a time crunch. My perpetual lateness really doesn’t help the situation when I have to park on the opposite side of campus from where I’m headed. But really, our campus isn’t that big. Walking isn’t difficult, and believe it or not, being outside can be nice sometimes.
The walk across campus also helps students avoid the “commuter shuffle,” where some commuter students go straight from their classroom to their car and go home. Being outside means running into other students who are also walking around campus.
While it would be nice for Webster to mimic a much larger school and offer shuttles onto campus, or build more parking spaces for students, this parking problem has to be put into the perspective of our school.
Part of the university’s plan is to expand the campus across Lockwood Avenue to Eden Theological Seminary, which could help student parking issues. However, this expansion might be a long way off, and nobody knows if it will even be much of a solution.
Generally, the parking problem slowly dies off as the semester goes on, and it becomes less crowded on campus during the day. So remember, the next time the roof of the parking garage holds the only available parking at that moment, just accept the walk across campus. It might be nice outside, and the walk really won’t be that far.
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