Last Friday, the Daily ran an editorial which supported building a new dormitory across the street from Aidekman Arts Center, rather than in the parking lot behind Hill Hall. The editorial made a strong case, citing the proximity to dining halls, other dorms, and classrooms in the area around Aidekman, while pointing out that the area behind Hill Hall was far removed from most of the campus. It also noted that the dorm would include apartments for juniors and seniors, as well as for faculty members so as to create a "residential community." Here's the problem: Many of those juniors and seniors will likely have cars with them, as would any faculty living in this proposed dorm. And these cars need to be parked somewhere.
Have you ever tried finding a parking space around Aidekman during the day? They don't really exist. If you ever go through the Aidekman parking lot between the hours of nine and five during the week, you are guaranteed to find lots of cars parked illegally next to where the parking spaces end, simply because there's no room anywhere in the lot. Be it a student with a class in Aidekman or a professor teaching there, they just didn't have time to drive all the way to the parking lot next to Cousens and sprint all the way back downhill before they miss their class.
This, unfortunately, is no consolation when you return to your car to find a friendly little note on your windshield telling you to pay 15 bucks, as I did on a couple of occasions last year. If the proposed new dorm is built across from Aidekman without addressing this problem, the situation will become unbearable. Any dorm residents who drive home from classes or jobs during the day will never find a parking space, forcing them to drive all the way back uphill to the garage or to the Cousens parking lot. There usually is not any room around Aidekman until around 5 or 6 p.m., when many classes end and faculty members begin to go home.
However, the downhill site is still a much better location than the site behind Hill Hall, and it would be a shame if this problem prevented the dorm from being built there. I believe the University should explore ways to expand the parking lot by Aidekman to create more spaces and thus relieve this problem if they decide to build downhill. I also think that sophomores should not be allowed to park around Aidekman, which was the old policy until last year. Before last year, sophomores were only allowed to park their cars by Cousens gym, which allowed for more parking space downhill. The current parking problem around Aidekman was exacerbated when sophomores were given permission to park there after Dowling Hall was built. John King, the director of the Department of Public & Environmental Safety, figured that the new parking garage would open up enough spaces around Aidekman for the sophomores. The problem with this idea is that Dowling Hall is uphill, and thus does not relieve any of the demand for parking around Aidekman. I realize that this solution would be a major inconvenience for sophomores with cars living downhill, but it does not make sense to allow them to park there if space is needed for upperclassmen and faculty living across the street.
I sincerely hope that the trustees choose to build the new dorm in the superior location across from Aidekman, and that the University will take the appropriate steps to prevent a parking crisis even worse than the one that exists now.
Alex Alexiou is a senior majoring in music.
