While parking on-campus continues to be a problem for everybody, mid-term construction is not helping to alleviate it. Last Thursday, construction on the streets bordering the commuter lot closed it off without warning to anyone who wanted to use it. In addition, spaces in the lot (which are almost always full by mid-day) continue to be taken up with construction equipment.
It should go without saying that closing off major parking lots in the middle of the semester is a bad idea. Would it have been too difficult for the construction team to have waited five weeks before starting on this project, or at least until the weekend? At the very least, an e-mail should have been sent out informing students of the closed street.
Ultimately, however, lots will be closed, parking spaces will continue to be blocked and student complaints will go unheard as SMU expands and goes forward with the plan to move parking off-campus – unless, of course, another parking garage is installed, a move which has been considered but is probably not high on the university’s list of “things to build.”
During yesterday’s Senate meeting, Police Chief Aaron Graves revealed the results of a study done earlier this year. As Graves said, “We have ample parking; during peak periods there are enough spaces for the people who park on campus.” This is a claim that very few students are likely to believe – until we realize, of course, that this survey includes the Dedman 3 lot, south of the Dedman Center.
Graves advises students to park in the Dedman 3 lot when their regular lot is under construction, as it is always open. There are two problems with this proposal – first, once the Center is expanded, half of the spaces in the lot will be lost. Second, it takes about a third of a mile’s worth of walking to get from the Dedman 3 lot to Dallas Hall. Wouldn’t forcing all those students to use that lot negate the purpose of having a Dedman Center in the first place?
We’re not suggesting that the construction team move all its projects to Christmas day in order to avoid inconveniencing students. But the next time they want to force students to hike to their classes, they need a better motive than a simple desire to tear up the street.
