This is my third year living on campus, and, like many other students, I have had a car on campus each year. This of course means that each year I have paid about $270 for the ability to park on campus.

There is of course much frustration involving parking, but that is to be expected with all of the changes our campus is currently experiencing. All of these initiatives are great, but limited parking is an unfortunate side effect of major construction projects. One easily fixed problem that goes unnoticed, however, is the problem experienced on Sunday mornings. Each week, Highland Park United Methodist Church attendees choose not to use the garages and shuttle services, instead taking over the McElvaney lot and any other spaces across campus they can find. Should you have to leave your parking spot for any reason, chances are slim to none that you will find a spot upon your return. None of these people pay the $270 for a parking permit, yet they are allowed to freely take the spots students pay for.

Playing the blame game and pointing fingers gets us nowhere. I will give these visitors the benefit of the doubt and assume that they just don’t know the rules involving parking on campus, nor that they can park in the garages and have a shuttle take them directly to HPUMC. Instead, I encourage SMU to take action. SMU should work with HPUMC to hammer out a plan that is beneficial to both parties and that solves, or at least alleviates, this issue. Perhaps we could have Park-n-Pony enforcement on the weekends, SMU PD directing traffic, or even a swipe card gate. Something needs to be implemented.

I myself, along with several other students, feel like this problem has been exacerbated in recent months by the Park Cities passing ordinances to prohibit students from parking on the streets surrounding campus. With parking options off campus no longer available and parking lots on campus full of visitors, students on campus experience many issues. I am not trying to be vindictive or cause backlash against the Park Cities new parking district, I promise. In fact, I think it is great that we have such a strong relationship with the surrounding community! However, when we experience a large influx of cars on campus each week, students are left with few options as far as parking goes. They are unable to use the spots that they paid for.

I realize that SMU, Student Senate, Park-n-Pony and all other relevant parties are doing their best to deal with parking on campus in this time of construction and transition, but I feel that this is an issue that goes largely unnoticed. I hope that this article will serve to bring this issue up in conversation around campus.

Often, there is a simple fix, but until a problem is identified, no solution will be found.

Brad Ray is a junior majoring in mechanical engineering. He can be reached for comment at [email protected].