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| Cartoon by Sean Lefler |
I’ve decided to start parking in President Milton Gordon’s garage.
I’m sure he’d understand my frustration. See, I’ve probably spent a year of my life waiting for a parking spot.
It’s safe to say I spend more time trying to get to class than I spend inside the classroom.
When parking starts affecting grades, shit gets real - it should not be this hard to get to class.
According to Fullerton.edu, 35,590 students were enrolled in the fall semester of 2010.
According to the Los Angeles Times, nearly 95 percent of those students arrive every day by car. That’s 32,031 students driving to school.
According to our school website, there are 11,090 parking spots including the new structure in Lot E.
I’m not great with numbers, but 11,090 parking spots for 32,031 commuting students sounds a little off. Where do the other 20,941 cars go? Either President Gordon can’t count or he just doesn’t care.
The CSUF Budget Report lists under the university revenue budget (for the fiscal year of 2009 to 2010): Parking fund $8,319,000; Parking fines and forfeitures $1,393,000.
I stared at the budget for a while, examining charts and graphs, looking up words I’ve managed to avoid my entire college career like “revenue budget” and “expenditure report.” (Side note: 68 percent of the reason I chose my journalism major is to avoid math classes. Don’t ask how I calculated that, just accept it.)
So I pulled out my calculator and attempted to understand the budget in the simplest way possible. If a parking permit costs $220 and there are 11,090 of them, the school should be making around $4,879,600 per academic year from selling parking permits alone.
Since the parking fund is listed as $8,319,000, the school is selling over 15,600 parking permits (per academic year) for spots that do not exist. How thoughtful.
The LA Times reports our school collected more than $1.275 million in parking tickets from students, visitors and even faculty members.
Where is the money going?
According to the school website, 38 percent of the total revenue was allocated to operating expenses (including department employee salaries and benefits). How about using the money to create more parking spaces? Light bulb.
The school website also suggests alternate means of transportation. Examples: carpool or take the train. Then take the bus from the train station to school… meh. Too difficult.
I want to be able to drive from my house which is only 15 minutes away, find a parking spot in five minutes, then get to class on time. Is that too much to ask? I shouldn’t be jumping hurdles and passing obstacle courses to get to school every day. It’s ridiculous.
What can we do? Stop buying parking permits! Buying one does not guarantee a spot.
My solution: walk, don’t wait. I park in the neighborhoods around the campus and take the 15 to 20 minute walk to class; it’s faster than circling the parking lots and it saves $440 a year.
I also see people parking along Commonwealth Avenue, taking bikes out of their trunks and cycling to school.
At this point, if I can’t find a parking spot less than a 15-minute walk away from campus, I just turn around and drive back home. It’s getting old, I’m over it.
And after I park in President Gordon’s garage, we can carpool to school.
I’m sure he’d understand my frustration. See, I’ve probably spent a year of my life waiting for a parking spot.
It’s safe to say I spend more time trying to get to class than I spend inside the classroom.
When parking starts affecting grades, shit gets real - it should not be this hard to get to class.
According to Fullerton.edu, 35,590 students were enrolled in the fall semester of 2010.
According to the Los Angeles Times, nearly 95 percent of those students arrive every day by car. That’s 32,031 students driving to school.
According to our school website, there are 11,090 parking spots including the new structure in Lot E.
I’m not great with numbers, but 11,090 parking spots for 32,031 commuting students sounds a little off. Where do the other 20,941 cars go? Either President Gordon can’t count or he just doesn’t care.
The CSUF Budget Report lists under the university revenue budget (for the fiscal year of 2009 to 2010): Parking fund $8,319,000; Parking fines and forfeitures $1,393,000.
I stared at the budget for a while, examining charts and graphs, looking up words I’ve managed to avoid my entire college career like “revenue budget” and “expenditure report.” (Side note: 68 percent of the reason I chose my journalism major is to avoid math classes. Don’t ask how I calculated that, just accept it.)
So I pulled out my calculator and attempted to understand the budget in the simplest way possible. If a parking permit costs $220 and there are 11,090 of them, the school should be making around $4,879,600 per academic year from selling parking permits alone.
Since the parking fund is listed as $8,319,000, the school is selling over 15,600 parking permits (per academic year) for spots that do not exist. How thoughtful.
The LA Times reports our school collected more than $1.275 million in parking tickets from students, visitors and even faculty members.
Where is the money going?
According to the school website, 38 percent of the total revenue was allocated to operating expenses (including department employee salaries and benefits). How about using the money to create more parking spaces? Light bulb.
The school website also suggests alternate means of transportation. Examples: carpool or take the train. Then take the bus from the train station to school… meh. Too difficult.
I want to be able to drive from my house which is only 15 minutes away, find a parking spot in five minutes, then get to class on time. Is that too much to ask? I shouldn’t be jumping hurdles and passing obstacle courses to get to school every day. It’s ridiculous.
What can we do? Stop buying parking permits! Buying one does not guarantee a spot.
My solution: walk, don’t wait. I park in the neighborhoods around the campus and take the 15 to 20 minute walk to class; it’s faster than circling the parking lots and it saves $440 a year.
I also see people parking along Commonwealth Avenue, taking bikes out of their trunks and cycling to school.
At this point, if I can’t find a parking spot less than a 15-minute walk away from campus, I just turn around and drive back home. It’s getting old, I’m over it.
And after I park in President Gordon’s garage, we can carpool to school.
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