Some students waiting up to 30 minutes circling City College for a parking spot have decided to drive off campus and walk to class.
In an effort to curb the parking congestion, The Board of Trustees approved the building of a six-story parking structure, Thursday, containing 468 new spaces. If approved by the Coastal Commission, it would be located next to the Sports Pavilion on Loma Alta Drive.
In addition, parking permit dispensers were added to campus lots and a new bus route running from the Mesa to the Transit Center aim to fix the problems faced by frustrated students and staff.
“I love the school, but honestly the parking is just a joke. It’s the worst thing about this school,” said computer science major Steven Essman.
The estimated cost of the parking structure is $10.41 million. The board has established a reserve of $6.45 million. The remaining $4 to $5 million would be redirected from the Workers’ Compensation Fund because state funds are unavailable, said Joe Sullivan, vice president of Business Services.
“We don’t have a lot of room left…If we have 15,000 students and we grow 1.33 percent, that’s still a lot. That’s a couple hundred students,” Sullivan said.
An environmental impact report must be filed with the Costal Commission and approved for construction to begin. The commission could take up to six months to respond. If the necessary permits are granted, the planned time of construction for the structure is 18 months, Sullivan said.
“I think a new parking structure would make it easier for me and easier for my students, so they can get to campus,” said Elizabeth Mizrahi, a City College history professor. “Students struggle way more than we do for parking and it would be nice for students to show up for class on time because they got a parking spot.”
Since the projected parking structure completion date is still unknown, new parking permit dispensers could prove to be helpful to students.
By the end of September, 10 parking permit dispensers will be up and running, said Director of Security, Erik Fricke.
The dispensers are placed in parking lots 2C, La Playa East Lot, next to La Playa Stadium, Lot 3, La Playa West Lot, and three in the West Campus parking structure.
There are two permits available: a three-hour permit for $2 or an all-day permit for $5. The temporary permit will display an expiration time and can be placed on the dashboard of a car.
With these new visitor machines “students won’t get denied visitors passes because there will be less stress on us for who needs a pass and who’s not supposed to have one,” said Parking Attendant and Environmental Studies major David Elizalde.
The other four permit dispensers are for short-term visitor parking and will cost 25 cents for 10 minutes, with a maximum of 30 minutes.
Two short-term dispensers are located in front of the Student Services building and two in front of the Administration building.
The four visitor machines can be used as soon as Superintendent-President John Romo gives the OK, Fricke said.
The Metropolitan Transit District and the college are also working together to help the congestive parking problem.
A new four-stop bus route will run a circle around the Mesa from the Transit Center to help ease the congestion of cars at City College, said David Damiano, manager of Transit Development for MTD.
The “short 5” is planned to go from City College to the Transit Center on Chapala Street. A bus serving the main East campus will stop every thirty minutes.
“The new bus loop, as well as other MTD routes servicing City College, plans to be implemented in January of next year,” Damiano added.
Though many students decide to take the bus because they don’t have cars, students who have cars also take the bus to avoid parking problems.
“I park up the hill by the restaurants about 15 minutes away and I catch the bus there,” said Tito Mays, a criminal justice major,.
Jason Dorfman, a business major, also said he takes the bus two days a week when he has his early classes because: “In the morning it’s hell here. You can’t do it. I take the bus just so I don’t have to park.”
