Students fed up with circling campus parking lots can look forward to better bus service, revved up security to stop illegal parking, possible intercampus shuttles-and a 400-space parking garage.
This week Superintendent-President John Romo will assemble a committee of students, teachers and administrators to carry out recommendations developed by a faculty “working group” last spring.
They will also consider independently submitted student plans, and attempt to court MTD as part of an arrangement to synchronize transportation to and from the college.
In a survey conducted by the college this spring examining student’s experiences, 57 percent of students answered that an obstacle stood in the way of their academic success. Of that number, 33 percent blamed lack of parking.
“It’s just ridiculous,” said Jeremy McDown, a City College student. “It takes half an hour to get a parking space.”
There are options available to students that could considerably decrease the parking problem if taken advantage of, said Romo. He pointed to the City College subsidized harbor parking passes, which the city is now offering to students.
“The harbor has so many open parking spaces,” he said. “Security has even offered to drive students to the harbor to get a pass.”
Long-term considerations include construction of a $9 million, 400-slot parking structure, which Romo guarantees will happen within two years.
The committee will also consider allotting space for lockers and bicycle lockers. Romo said all these considerations would be discussed and broken down into two categories, long-term and short-term goals.
Faculty are doing their part to help with the situation. For the past six years Magdelena Torres, American ethnic studies instructor, has used the first five minutes of her lectures to arrange car pools based on neighborhood. She said students enrolled in her night classes, where buses run limited routes, are especially grateful.
“It’s just something I have always done,” she said. “I believe that carpooling helps them build community.”
For students who see the entire issue as a lost cause there is always the old fashioned way of getting to school. “I just walk,” said City College student Natalie Haskell. “I have two legs and I can do it.”