2008 Woodie Awards
Parking woes plague campus on many levels
Dan Warn
Issue date:
2/13/08
Section:
Opinion
Olympic College parking has been a subject that has gotten people riled up with strong opinions and biased solutions for a long time.
Many people think they have the perfect solution to OC's parking problem, but in most cases their perfect solution is just the one that best fits their needs.
When it comes to parking, the needs of OC as a whole have been put on the back burner so that a minority of long-standing faculty can get what they want.
Rocky Wallace, OC safety and security supervisor, has kept parking moving at OC for years. Throughout the course of his career, he has dealt with time periods where the campus's parking problems were much worse.
Wallace said around six years ago, the parking guards of OC were lucky if they could create four extra parking places for students to use. Since then, the Poulsbo campus has opened for business and two new parking lots have been utilized. With these updates to the problem, OC parking became more manageable, but only slightly.
Now, according to Vice President of Administration Barbra Martin, OC is enjoying modest growth rates. Though the campus population is not growing rapidly, it is still growing and with each new student, another parking space is filled. Though there are plans for new lots to be installed at some point down the road, what happens in the distant future does not amend the problems of the present.
With all of this in mind, I have noticed many vacant parking spaces around the campus. This should be a good thing, but since the open parking spaces belong to faculty lots, students have no access to them until 4 p.m. This is not helpful at all because according to Wallace, parking is at its worst between 8 and 10 a.m.
What's more is while there are empty spaces in faculty lots, some faculty and staff feel the need to park on the streets around OC where students should be able to park.
So why can't all faculty and staff park in lots designed for them while there are open spaces available? It is simple; the empty spaces aren't in fact available.
Many people think they have the perfect solution to OC's parking problem, but in most cases their perfect solution is just the one that best fits their needs.
When it comes to parking, the needs of OC as a whole have been put on the back burner so that a minority of long-standing faculty can get what they want.
Rocky Wallace, OC safety and security supervisor, has kept parking moving at OC for years. Throughout the course of his career, he has dealt with time periods where the campus's parking problems were much worse.
Wallace said around six years ago, the parking guards of OC were lucky if they could create four extra parking places for students to use. Since then, the Poulsbo campus has opened for business and two new parking lots have been utilized. With these updates to the problem, OC parking became more manageable, but only slightly.
Now, according to Vice President of Administration Barbra Martin, OC is enjoying modest growth rates. Though the campus population is not growing rapidly, it is still growing and with each new student, another parking space is filled. Though there are plans for new lots to be installed at some point down the road, what happens in the distant future does not amend the problems of the present.
With all of this in mind, I have noticed many vacant parking spaces around the campus. This should be a good thing, but since the open parking spaces belong to faculty lots, students have no access to them until 4 p.m. This is not helpful at all because according to Wallace, parking is at its worst between 8 and 10 a.m.
What's more is while there are empty spaces in faculty lots, some faculty and staff feel the need to park on the streets around OC where students should be able to park.
So why can't all faculty and staff park in lots designed for them while there are open spaces available? It is simple; the empty spaces aren't in fact available.
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