MIRANDA SHAIN | STAFF EDITOR
Not too many students attending RCC Riverside are satisfied with the parking quandary here on campus: in fact, the majority of students interviewed were downright hostile about it. The few with no complaint are students who arrive later in the day when spaces become available, and select others with handicap parking passes.
Jose Guardado, a second year student here said that parking has always been a problem. When asked if he thought removing the tennis courts helped any, he said, “Not at all, they should set up a new parking structure.” He also believes that if we pay for a parking pass, then we should get a parking space. This is a belief that a great number of students share; however according to Riverside Community College District Procedure AP6750 section 1 subsection B, the purchase of a permit does not guarantee a parking spot.
Monique Chavez, a third semester student arrives at 10:15 in the morning, the recommended hour before her class begins in order to find parking. Nevertheless, the day she was interviewed she was still 10 minutes late for class.
Chavez also attends the Norco campus and states that she has no problem parking there. When asked what she suggests as a solution, Chavez said, “They need to overlap classes better because this is really bad, I’m thinking of going to just the Norco campus.”
Even distribution of the classes is something that Sergeant Henry of campus police, agrees with. If the classes were spread out more evenly throughout the day instead of clustered together at the beginning of the day, the parking problem would potentially become a nonissue.
Henry went on to say that if you want to find parking “get here an hour early” then half jokingly continued “or if you need to, two hours, and if spaces start to fill up that early then three hours.”
Other options that Sargent Henry mentioned were public transportation, carpooling and even riding a bike to school if you are able. Henry said a good idea would be forming an on campus organization that would help find matches for carpools.
When asked about the possibility of a new parking structure, Sergeant Henry informed that structures such as garages are funded at the college level, not by the state. What does that mean to you? It means a whole lot of parking tickets would have to be issued in order to come up with the cash.
The current parking garage was built at the notable cost of $20,940,662, and was funded through Measure C in 2004. Measure C is a state issued bond that was voted on and passed 60.59 to 39.41 percent.
So the bottom line is that the parking situation is what it is, so show up early, hope for the best, and maintain civility in the parking lots. The situation should improve soon when students drop classes or get dropped, and the lower parking lots usually have some space and you get exercise with the deal.
