Parking struggles continue on campus

Construction creates difficult parking situations for commuting campus members

Mikaela Foehr / News Editor/ The USD Vista

Some students may know the feeling — it is 9:57 a.m. on a Monday morning, pulling into campus just before your 10:10 a.m. class, heading to the Valley Parking Structure with your parking permit proudly displayed, only to find that there are no available spots. 

This has been junior Justin Palacios’s experience more than once, which is why he now wakes up at 6 a.m., just so he can arrive on campus in time to get a parking spot. However, Palacios is not alone in this struggle to park.

Parking spots on campus are getting even scarcer. With the progression of campus construction, an increasing amount of parking areas are being used as staging sites for the tools and materials needed to complete the ambitious revamp of USD’s campus. This has resulted in increased frustration and more elaborate parking strategies among the students and faculty who commute to campus.

The most recent blow to parking spaces is the Law School lot, which is projected to be closed until 2022 according to the Department of Parking Services’ website. Instead of cars, this lot will be filled with temporary office spaces for faculty who traditionally reside in Camino and Founders Halls. These temporary spaces are currently being built to be used in the fall of 2020. 

Although the majority of the Law lot is filled with construction, there are some spots remaining. However, these spots are exclusively reserved for ADA parking, and a few law reserved permit holders. On the Parking Services website, they recommend law permit holders to park in the South Law lot, or in “surrounding areas.” This means that law permit holders can stake claim to spaces not traditionally reserved by their parking permits, adding pressure to campus members who have permits to park in nearby areas.

The closure of traditional parking spaces has also prompted thought-out strategies for securing parking spaces, such as waiting out the time limit on designated “carpool” spaces. USD offers “carpool permits” to students or faculty who drive to school with others in their vehicle to try and promote more environmentally conscious forms of transportation. The carpool permits are handed out until 10 a.m., or until all the permits have been given, whichever comes first.  

Amidst the parking scarcity, some students are now staking out these carpool spots until the 10 a.m. deadline. Shannon Daley, a junior who commutes to campus from Mission Beach, has run into this problem a few times.

“I think that carpool pass is a good idea, but it has happened a few times where I’ve gotten the pass and all the spots are already filled by people waiting for the clock to hit 10 a.m.,” Daley said. “I just don’t know what to do in those situations.”

The department of Parking Services asks that if anyone is violating the carpool permit rules to call them at 619-260-4518 and “(they) will send someone out to enforce the carpool spaces.”

Another strategy by students and faculty is to simply arrive at campus early in the morning. Junior Justin Palacios abides by this tactic, although unenthusiastically. 

“Since parking is so bad, I try to get here as early as possible,” Palacios said. “This normally means waking up at 6 a.m. for my 10 a.m. classes, which is not fun.”

Junior Jared Hebreo seconds the belief that parking tends to be available early in the morning, but doesn’t mind it too much. 

“I’ve always been able to find parking in the morning, but I guess that is when having early classes pays off,” Hebreo said. 

On top of the currently tight parking, campus community members are also upset by the current lack of labeled parking areas and $85 increase (for students) in permit costs starting in the fall. Palacios, who already feels the parking system is confusing, is worried that it will be even harder to know where you can park come next fall.

“I’ve gotten tickets for parking in the wrong areas even though I was very careful about not parking in spaces or areas clearly marked “reserved,” Palacios said. “If (parking services) aren’t clear on what permits work where when everything changes, I think a lot of people are going to be very confused.”

In light of the struggles some people are facing, some campus members choose to not park on campus at all. It is not uncommon to see members of faculty walking to the main campus from beyond the Alcalá Vista Apartments in the mornings. Mathematics professor Cameron Parker P.h.D, chooses to park off of campus for ease and enjoyment.

“I don’t park on campus because I like to not have to search around for a parking spot, know where one is going to be, and then have a nice walk in the beautiful San Diego sun,” Parker said. 

Although getting extra steps in is good for health, some members of campus, like Daley and Palacios, would just like to know they will be able to find a convenient spot in the morning. However, this task may become easier in the fall, when on-campus first years will no longer be allowed to have cars on campus. 

Currently, Parking Services recommends that campus members “drive straight to the West Structure as there is always ample parking there” and also “recommend carpooling or taking alternate forms of transportation if possible”. They maintain that “there is a minimum of 400 spaces open at any given time”, indicating that although open spaces may be hard to find, they are there. 

For updates on campus construction, visit the Department of Planning Design and Construction’s website. For information on parking, the Office of Parking Services is in Hahn University Center 102, and is open on weekdays between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.