You Snooze, You Lose: Hawaiian Students Play Musical Parking Spots
Hawaii may be paradise on Earth for tourists, but it’s a game of musical parking spots for University of Hawaii students. KHNL TV reports that 20k University of Hawaii students must compete for 5K parking spots. "It's competitive, yah, early bird gets the worm, kind of a thing," admits U of H student Justin Lozano. Once the official parking spaces are taken, creative parking takes over. Despite the idyllic island life, local residents aren't happy with the result. J.R. DeGroote spoke for many when he decried “people blocking our parking, parking on the grass, taking our parking spots.” While students are gagging for more parking spaces, school officials say enough ain't never gonna be enough. They suggest that Aloha State academics take advantage of a $100 per semester bus pass.
Glenn is a baby-boomer, born in 1954. Along with his wife, he makes his home in Connecticut. Employed in the public sector as an Information Tedchnology Specialist, Glenn has long been a car fan. Past rides have included heavy iron such as a 1967 GTO, to a V8 T-Bird. In between those high-horsepower cars, he's owned a pair of BMW 320i's. Now, with a daily commute of 40 miles, his concession to MPG dictates the ownership of a 2006 Honda Civic coupe which, while fun to drive, is a modest car for a pistonhead. As an avid reader, Glenn enjoys TTAC, along with many other auto-realated sites, and the occasional good book. As an avid electronic junkie, Glenn holds an Advanced Class amateur ("ham") radio license, and is into many things electronic. From a satellite radio and portable GPS unit in the cars, to a modest home theater system and radio-intercom in his home, if it's run by the movement of electrons, he's interested. :-)
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All the comments further illustrate what a money-grabbing-con that higher education has been evolving into.
I went to the University of Windsor for a couple years, and although parking never seemed that hellish, it seemed to be a similiar situation where if you didn't show up early enough, you weren't getting parking until the day was over. I was lucky though, since in my first year, I lived on campus (so I was one of the ones hogging a parking spot), and second year, I lived close enough to campus to walk (my work was also within walking distance of campus). Although, @Adamatari - you've basically summarized the parking situation at my workplace. Management is allowed to park on the lot, while the rest of us are supposed to park on the street.
I’ll add that if the parking prices were made high enough to reflect demand, that might create a return-on-investment situation that makes it economical for the university to create more parking. Nobody should have to pay for the space and infrastructure involved in parking except the students that use it.
Sometime during his senior year at a state college in Michigan, film-maker (and college drop-out) Michael Moore drove to his college and after cruising the lots for an hour or so looking for a parking place, he gave up, went home and never returned. He never graduated. Back in the day when I went to college and small cars still generally weighed under a ton, owners of 1st and 2nd gen Honda Civics, VWs, and similar vehicles would return from class to find their cars mysteriously moved from their original parking places on the street or in lots to the lawn or on the sidewalk, where they were also ticketed. More recently, I chose my graduate school based largely on the fact that it had convenient parking. As a working adult I did not have time to cruise around hunting or walking miles and miles to class. I ended up finding a school where I was able to park just outside of the classroom. Easy in, easy out. Parking is something that schools, especially commuter colleges, need to anticipate and plan for. And if they can't provide parking for all of their students, they should limit enrollment to those whom they are able to accomodate.