By David Morris
By David Morris
Parking at Riverside Community College may not be convenient for most students, but according to Parking Services, it’s there.
Parking Services doesn’t guarantee that students will find a convenient place to park; they guarantee a place to park.
Both students and staff are expressing frustration with the construction and loss of parking spaces along Saunders Street and in Lot Y. Everyone is hard pressed to find these 190 additional spaces.
According to the manager of parking services, Sergeant Richard Henry, the 190 spaces includes unmarked spots created in the upper parking lots of A, B and in Lot J by Lovekin Field, as needed. Specifically in Lot Y, where construction reduced parking, lot attendants use angling methods to park vehicles along “red zone” areas and against the fence, which Henry moved back to increase the lot size by 20 more unmarked spaces.
Students circling to find a parking spot in some of the more popular lots at Riverside Community College need only look by Evans Field, which is secreted away across Magnolia Avenue.
On any given day this parking lot by the baseball and softball fields rarely fills to capacity. Parking Services used a measure-meter to roll along the red line by Evans Field and they estimate there are about 75 additional parking spaces. During the first two weeks of the semester lot attendants were forced to park student vehicles along this red zone, but since then the need hasn’t arisen.
According to a parking pamphlet distributed by Parking Services, the average time that it takes to walk from this secret lot is greater then 15 minutes, which is nearly double the actual time.
“Is an 8 minute walk convenient? That depends if it’s raining or whatever, but you can find parking,” Henry said. “You don’t come to school to park; you come to school to educate yourself. Parking is just something that people would like to be convenient.”
Located near the entrance to Evans Field is Lot T, which RCC leases every semester.
On the corner of Terracina Drive and Magnolia Avenue is an unsanctioned RCC parking lot, controlled by the church. Students may park in this lot for $1 a day.
The majority of revenues from Parking Permits reverts back to parking services and is used for such things as the hiring of personnel and the upkeep of facilities and parking lots.
The Superior Courts and Riverside County receive a portion of ticketing revenues.
According to Henry, parking enforcement officers focus on issuing tickets for not displaying parking placards correctly. They do not emphasize ticketing for parking in red zones. Although, parking in a hazardous red zone, such as in front of a fire hydrant or obstructing traffic, will be ticketed.
According to Parking Services, the 190 parking spaces that were established along Saunders Street, in Lot Y and along set “red zone” areas may not help the parking situation at the more popular lots, but they are confident in their mission to get students parked and on their way to class.