For the past two weeks, SGA meetings have been full of talk about the difficulties students are having finding adequate parking on campus. In yesterday’s meeting, the SGA passed a resolution to make a temporary change.
The policy passed will improve the accessibility of the CCB parking lot for students participating in Songfest rehearsals. The resolution will allow for further communication between SGA and DPS to request parking lot access between 10 p.m. to midnight.
The theme of student parking emerged after SGA passed a resolution regarding Towers parking rejuvenation last week. With its passing, the policy prompted SGA to provide a small amount of funding to cover paint and labor expenses for repainting parking lines on the hill going into the Towers parking facility.
“SGA has passed three resolutions about parking, and we are really trying to work for the students because we feel the hassle of parking too,” Sophomore Senator Keb Doak said.
Prior to this decision, SGA faced difficulties trying to propose a comprehensive resolution for the campus-wide issue of student parking, and they are still looking for ways to improve parking for all students.
Junior Patrick Moan has been pushing to add a “Firestone Express” shuttle from the Firestone Fieldhouse parking lot.
“Students are on board with this,” Moan said. “They want to be to class on time.”
Moan elaborated on the troubles by emphasizing that many students, specifically commuters, are having a hard time making it to class on time because they cannot find suitable parking.
A debate began as the student officials threw out possible solutions. One obvious proposal was to increase the timing and number of the shuttles that run from Firestone Fieldhouse, where many commuter students park, up to main campus, the CCB and the SAC. Even though this would be costly to the University, it would ensure that spots are available for all students to make it to class more quickly.
As SGA members attempt to make this suggestion a reality, there have been some setbacks. Responses have been that there are simply not enough drivers to continually run shuttles, especially if there are plans to travel to and from the Malibu Canyon Villas (“the Stinkies”).
“We are looking at the parking structures, and trying to find possible solutions such as eliminating some parallel parking and providing diagonal pull-in parking spot,” Moan said.
Encouraging students to carpool is a stance that SGA has agreed on to help solve the issue.
Some other ideas came up as to small efforts the SGA could make to speed the process of changing the parking situation. These included putting pressure on DPS and possibly the housing office. There are currently Campus Life plans to reduce and hopefully eliminate this parking problem in the future.
DPS has expressed willingness to assist SGA in reviewing possible policies, though there are technically enough parking spaces throughout campus to accommodate all students, making any possible solution even more of a strategic one.
Another suggestion was almost immediately deemed risky. This was the idea of charging for parking, or even banning first-year students from bringing a car. Some SGA members believed this would deter students from having multiple cars on campus, thus opening spaces for commuter students. This would also require resident students to park in one of the designated parking lots rather than along the streets where commuters often look to park. After considering this, SGA agreed that this could have a possible negative “domino affect” for the recruitment of perspective students.
Other universities in the Southern California area have varying parking policies. Similarly to Pepperdine, schools like USC and LMU require vehicles to be registered on campus. However, USC charges $75 for a year-long parking registration pass. Cal Poly encourages their first-year students to leave their vehicles at home and instead turn to biking or shuttle busing to get around.
Moan is currently taking any possible parking solution ideas during SGA meetings.
