0
0
By Nita Gandhi / News Editor
By Nita Gandhi / News Editor
Parking is a problem for students, faculty and staff on campus and lot B has limited space due to the construction of the nursing building.
Construction workers at the Riverside City College nursing building have been spotted parking early in the morning in lot B without parking permits.
Before classes started on May 4, an anonymous faculty member sent an e-mail and photos of construction workers parking in lot B to Viewpoints and Riverside City College police Chief Jim Miyashiro.
The faculty member said in the e-mail to Miyashiro that she parked in lot B around 7:10 a.m. when she observed a small group of construction workers parking in student and staff parking spaces. She took photos of the cars and also observed that the cars did not display parking permits.
“Now it could be that the construction company has made arrangements… to allow parking for its employees, but they should be made to pay for permits and to display them just like the rest of us,” said the anonymous faculty member. “If this is the case it is an outrage to me that they are allowed to park in our lots when space is at such a premium!”
Any person without a permit is supposed to be issued a ticket and pay a fine.
Leslie Escudero, an RCC art student, said she parks in lot B because she carries a lot of equipment and it is closest to the art building. She said she does not feel it is fair for others to park in the lot without a permit.
“I would find it very unfair,” Escudero said. “It’s a slap for the students that we have to pay for it and it’s hard for us to find parking.”
Jeff Olea does not have a permit and parks on Ramona Avenue and agrees that it is not fair that people who didn’t pay for a parking permit take the spots anyway.
“That’s not correct and it doesn’t seem appropriate for construction workers to park here, because they should have their own parking lots shouldn’t they?” Olea said.
Chief Miyashiro stated that the District sent a notice through facilities letting the construction workers know that they cannot park in lots on campus.
If construction workers are parking in the parking lots, they will be issued tickets and are subject to towing.
“There are paid lots that they can park in or there are some places across the street where they can park in,” Miyashiro said. “What we want is to make sure they are not taking up spaces that faculty needs or staff or students.”
Miyashiro further stated that this issue is recent and he is just hearing about it, though he said that it might have been a miscommunication between the subcontractors that the District hired to finish the nursing building.
“The contractors that are coming in now are the finishing contractors because the building is almost done and they are hiring subcontractors to do a lot of the detailed work that’s inside,” Miyashiro said. “It may have been a miscommunication where the contractor did not pass it on to the subcontractors who hired the workers and facilities did put out information to the contractors to let all the workers know that they cannot park there.”
He also mentioned that the construction workers at the Wheelock gym are parking in the enclosure by the construction site and they are not parking in the lots.
Miyashiro said that the community officers are out looking for cars without permits and will issue citations. It is required that all students, faculty and staff display their permits in the bottom left corner of the windshield.
Fines for parking permit violations run anywhere from $40 to $60 and are displayed on the RCC website.