West Lot parking causes headaches

By Anita Alem     9/16/13 7:00pm

Rice University parkers experienced difficulties in recent weeks due to the ongoing construction of the George R. Brown Tennis Complex in parts of West Lots 2 and 3, planned to be completed in June.

The loss of 641 spots in these lots, accompanied by the loss of 350 spots in West Lot 4 due to the construction of the D. Kent and Linda C. Anderson and Robert L. and Jean T. Clarke Center, the new building for the Susanne M. Glasscock School of Continuing Studies, resulted in the congestion, according to Parking Manager Michael Morgan.

Morgan said those with permits for West Lot 3 are now allowed to park in West Lot 4 due to the parking obstructions. Previously, West Lots 2, 4 and 5 were open only to student, faculty and staff parkers with commuter permits. West Lot 3 had been reserved for resident permits.

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Morgan said this year, the Parking Office oversold West Lots 2, 4 and 5 by 12 percent but that in former years, these lots were oversold by more, so parking issues were not anticipated because the calculations of the available parking spaces and permits sold did not conflict with each other.

"By the numbers that we're seeing and what's happening out there, we're not exceeding what we have for [West Lot] permits," Morgan said. "I don't personally know of an overflow to Greenbriar [Lot]. Never have I known yet for us to have exceeded West Lot 5. A lot of the frustrations that I'm hearing are that, 'I used to park in West Lot 2, and it's [full] all the time now, and now I'm seeing myself in 4 or 5.' And that's a part of the permit."

Duncan College senior Evan Austin said he had to purchase a permit for Greenbriar because permits in West Lot were sold out.

"I think there should be some sort of parking system that privileges seniority [in obtaining permits]because I don't know of many freshmen or sophomores that have the time, desire or necessity to engage with off campus opportunities to the extent that upperclassmen do," Austin said. "I go off-campus for an internship three times a week, and the trip out to Greenbriar makes that a lot more difficult. When I was an underclassmen, I used my car for the sole purpose of going to Target. Now, I'm using it to avoid unemployment next year."

In a discussion on the parking issue hosted by the Student Association at its Sept. 9 meeting, several students expressed their frustration with congestion at the entrance of West Lot 4. Members proposed increasing shuttle services to Greenbriar and strengthening security.

Duncan College junior Laurel Bingman said she expressed her discontent by creating the "Petition to Resolve the Commuter Parking Issue," which requests Rice University make amends by opening parking spaces closer to West Lot than Greenbriar or by reimbursing students who paid for West Lot parking. 

"I've had to park right next to the stadium, getting there at 9:30 a.m," Bingman said. "Some of my friends were telling me that they had to park in Greenbriar, [which is] more dangerous, and ... not what we paid for." 

Bingman said she believes the administration did not provide sufficient warning to students about the decreased number of parking spots when students were purchasing their permits.

"This felt like a decision that we were not even informed of until it was upon us," Bingman said. "What has bothered a lot of us even [more] than just the loss of parking is the fact that we felt like we weren't being told the whole truth from the beginning."

 Bingman said her petition gained more than 120 signatures in less than three days and that she presented the petition to President David Leebron during his office hours Sept. 10. 

Leebron said he was aware of the situation and that the university was seeking potential solutions. According to Leebron, some parking issues will most likely remain until the opening of the Glasscock School. He said Rice administration hopes to construct additional parking garages in the future to prevent shortages in parking but that current parking permit costs would not cover the price of a new parking garage.

"There are some shorter-term issues for parking and some longer-term issues, Leebron said. "We need to address the shorter-term issues ... before the end of the semester."

 Morgan said the parking issues stemmed not from the Parking Office overselling spots, but from people parking outside of the lots for which they purchased permits. Morgan said the Parking Office has been more strictly enforcing permits to ensure that only people with the proper permits are parking in the West Lots. 

"When [cars] are in the improper location, enforcement can be called by anyone to say we have people parking here that shouldn't be," Morgan said. "That happened very early on to make sure that people were getting notified that they were not in the right place."

According to Morgan, the Parking Office has also improved the situation within the past week by painting 60 new spots distributed across West Lots 2, 3 and 4. Moreover, 90 people who no longer need to park in West Lot 4 have been relocated to Hess Lot. Morgan said students can also enter West Lot 4 quickly via Entrance 44, next to the practice field north of the Rice Stadium, which does not require students to scan their proximity cards to enter.

Morgan said the Parking Office is always open to input from students and encouraged them to contact the department with any questions or comments. He said he hopes to increase the department's social media usage to keep students updated in real-time about different issues that might arise.

Bingman said she would appreciate student involvement in Parking's decisions.

"In the future, it would be a lot better if we were kept informed and, if possible, parking issues were brought to the table, not only so that we can know about them ahead of time, but so that maybe we can even put in input to resolve future problems that might arise," Bingman said.

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