Some sophomore drivers on campus will now be spared the arduous walk to the Cousens Gym parking lot thanks to new parking regulations. Tufts University Police Department (TUPD) determined that sophomores who have purchased decals before Sept. 24 will be able to park in most residential lots.
Students with the yellow sophomore decal can now park in any resident designated area, called green areas, except for the Jackson lot and the lot in front of Latin Way Apartments. Sophomores who purchased their decals after Sept. 24 must continue to park in the Cousens lot.
According to TUPD Captain Mark Keith, the department has conducted a demand analysis since the beginning of the school year. TUPD officers performed counts of empty spaces in the residential lots every night from 1 a.m. to 3 a.m. Approximately 160 spaces were open around campus every night, Keith said, and up until Sept. 24, the department had sold 100 sophomores decals.
"We found we had more spaces than sophomore decals sold," Keith said.
The TUPD did not lift the parking restriction until now because officers wanted to ensure that the number of open spaces would stay constant. The "rush" for purchasing parking spaces occurs at the beginning of the year so the department waited until the end of the month before lifting the restriction.
"We wanted to make sure that we have ample spaces available well into September," he said.
Sophomores who purchased parking decals before the deadline seemed satisfied with the change, and said that it was fair to initially designate the more convenient parking spaces to upperclassmen. "It has to be done somehow," sophomore Doug Smith said. "When I'm a senior, I'm not going to want to give up my spot to a sophomore."
But Smith added that the ability to park his car closer to where he lives is a safety concern.
"I guess I'm glad I don't have to walk down to Cousens," he said. "You can't really walk past your car and make sure it's safe. I was always worried that someone would break its' windows or something."
Keith said that vandalism concerns are not specific to the Cousens lot. "[Vandalism] is always an issue," he said. "No matter where you park on campus, your car could be vulnerable to vandalism."
The three cases of vandalism that have been reported this year all occurred in the Cousens lot on the same night. Keith would not say whether this constitutes a high or low rate of incidence, but said that TUPD performs regular nightly rounds through the lot.
"That's one incident where three vehicles were vandalized," Keith said. "There have been months at a time where there was no vandalism at all."
Sophomore Jim Cappadona's car was the victim of the vandalism. A rock was thrown through the passenger window of his Wrangler last Sunday night.
Though he said he will now park closer to his dorm to occasionally check on his car, he said that the general parking situation is fairly safe. "I don't think it's all that unsafe. The police found out about it way before I would have," he said.
Cappadona said he assumed that people were trying to break into his car to steal his stereo equipment, but since he removed it, nothing was taken or disturbed other than the window. "If you're smart about it and if you take stuff out of your car... it's pretty safe, as long as you take the precautions," he said.
Students generally said they would want to keep their cars close-by. "I kind of like having my car near me where I know where it is," sophomore Mike Stevenson said, though he added, "But I also don't think we're likely to get our cars broken into on campus."
Stevenson, who plans to buy a decal next semester, said that the situation should be reassessed in the spring, when juniors who now park on campus go abroad.
"I guess it makes sense that parking should be on a first-come, first-served basis, but they should also reassess the situation," he said. "[Public safety] don't have any idea what it's going to be."
After Dowling Hall was completed summer 2000, public safety reconfigured parking arrangements on campus. Because the 450-car garage provided ample spaces for visitors, faculty, staff, and commuters, spaces were freed up for students. The lot behind Miller Hall, previously reserved for faculty and staff, changed to resident parking. The area behind Carmichael was also mostly designated for students.
TUPD changed parking assignments for sophomores last year as well, but did not lift the restrictions until last November.
