Parking Wars Continue and Students are Losing

This week I was lucky enough to park free of charge and close to campus. Today I tried my luck on the same dead end road next to Hill Middle School, and what I saw made my stomach hurt, a sign reading, "NO STUDENT PARKING."

The sign has been there a day and even a middle school employee who noticed the sign, commented on its unnecessary presence, she doesn't park there.

Luckily I have a back up street to cruise to that I found the first week of school. I thought I found a secret private parking street just for me, but as parking misery continues, my street has filled up, and today I parked in one of the last spots.

It is only a matter of time before one of the enemy signs appears on this street marking another battleground of defeat for students who drive to campus.

Why can't we park there? The street is next to a middle school and there are no houses on that street. The school has it's own parking so who the hell else needs to park there? Thirteen-year-olds?

After the first day folly of the CSULB marina shuttle I have not utilized it again. The three hours spent trying to park that day has left its mark. For those of us who commute to campus the thought of parking off campus, waiting for the shuttle, and then clown carring it back to campus is not appealing. Especially after combating freeway congestion, bothering with the shuttle is a no go.

It's amazing to me that we can put people on the moon yet we cannot figure out a solution to campus parking problems across the nation.

Come on community, give us students a break. We are people and these streets are public! At least let us park there until our problem-solving new parking structure is built.

Yes, we are getting a new structure soon, and then our problems will be over.

But is this new structure really going transport students into a parking utopia?

Every year there are more students on campus and they all need a place to park. Fall of 2006, CSULB recorded the second highest enrollment in the CSU system, according to the December 2007 CSULB master plan. We may just find ourselves in the same situation, same problem at a bigger scale.

It's ok community, don't worry about us students, we are only your future doctors, teachers, scientists, bankers, leaders and politicians.

This country's half-assed attempt to give its citizens an education is just going to produce half-assed professionals who will then in turn serve a half-assed community.

Come on nation, let's pull it together and find the other half of our ass.