Listen Here
By: Olivia Wile
Twitter: o_wile
Email: wileo@findlay.edu
Photo by Olivia Wile
With long to-do lists and many responsibilities, parking can quickly become a trivial task for college students.
Whether they are in a hurry, or in the midst of an honest mistake, students at the University of Findlay who are caught parking in the wrong spaces will be ticketed. “There has to be some control of parking,” Chief of Police Bill Spraw stated.
There are some changes in parking this year that students should be aware of. Spraw explains lots 20 and 21 have been condensed into one big lot between North College Street and the new Center for Student Life and College of Business building.
“[The] Main reasoning is because of the College of Business moving to that building,” Spraw said. “Sodexo has an increased number of employees. Because of the five restaurants, they hired 20-25 people.”
According to Spraw, UFCP also added an additional 12 guest parking spots in lot 20 for UF community members visiting the bookstore and Office of Civic Engagement.
Additionally, the lot west of the College of Business building has become a commuter and faculty and staff lot. The lot west of Deming Residence Hall and Henderson Dining Hall has also been converted into commuter spaces.
Spraw explains why this change was made. “To give commuters more space,” he stated. “There are more commuters than residents. [Many] residents tend to leave their car parked in lots for weeks.”
As this is her first year on campus, Freshman Murphy Vance is already experiencing difficulties with parking.
“There’s no where to park and the spots are so far away,” Vance said. “I feel like it’s easier not to have a car than to have one.”
Mackenzie Wagner, sophomore and now commuter, recalls the trouble she had parking on campus last year.
“When I lived on campus there were no resident spots,” Wagner said, “As a commuter I think it’s worse.”
Spraw provides advice for students who are finding parking to be a challenge this year. “For commuters, come early,” Spraw stated. “I know that’s hard. Residence – just stay in the white. Make sure tags are visible and in the proper spot.”
“On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I have a 9 a.m. and I’ll go park and there won’t be any sports left,” Warner explained. “The spots themselves are inconvenient.”
As for their plans for the future, Spraw states the UFPC is constantly monitoring the situation. “We check [lots] and see ‘oh this ones full today,’” Spraw stated. “We check them all the time.”
Potential changes could be made sooner than later. “It’s only paint,” Spraw said. “If we start seeing it’s not working, we will look during fall break to see if things need redesigned.”
