Rice offers West Lot spaces to aid H-E-B employees

By Sarah Rutledge     8/20/09 7:00pm

In an unconventional venture beyond the hedges, Rice is hoping to have established a beneficial relationship with a local business by appealing to their pocketbooks. The employees from a recently-opened H-E-B Grocery Store, located on Buffalo Speedway and South Blvd., have been parking in West Lot free of charge since the beginning of the month, and will continue to park there until next Monday, Aug. 31.The employees are parking in West Lot 5, the lot adjacent to the police station and post office, off University Blvd. Parking Manager Mike Morgan estimated that the H-E-B employees use 50 to 100 parking spaces at any given time. He said since the lot normally has 180 spaces and is infrequently used, parkers should not be impacted by the spaces temporarily in use.

Administrative Services Director Eugen Radulescu said typically high-demand parking lots on campus boast few open spaces, but West Lot 5 is an unpopular place to park.

"I haven't seen West Lot 5 completely full," Radulescu said. "Very few students park there, if any. It's easier for students to park closer to the shuttle."

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This parking arrangement was facilitated through the Athletic Department, which is leading a campaign to secure sponsorship from the store, Athletics Director Chris DelConte said. This summer, the football team took part in a Youth Impact Program, where students from Houston's Third Ward spent time with football players and learned about college opportunities. DelConte said the football team also went door-to-door in six boroughs in hopes of gaining more season ticket holders. As part of a more concerted sponsorship effort, the team hopes to use local businesses to rally community support by displaying posters and other Rice regalia, he said.

In regards to H-E-B, DelConte said he sees the store as potentially beneficial to Rice and that offering parking space free of charge was the neighborly thing for Rice to do.

"We said we'll do what we can to help [with the new store]," DelConte said. "It was a lot that wasn't being used."

Integrating the university with the Houston community is one of the Vision for the Second Century's ideals, DelConte said. In addition, he said he hopes the store will offer Rice athletics a sponsorship in the future, though nothing has been set in stone yet.

Martel College senior Sarita Panchang said she was unaware that Rice was offering free parking to H-E-B employees.

"I only know a little about the situation, but Rice's decision seems mostly just a business strategy," she said. "That's probably all it should be taken as."

The H-E-B store is still in its opening phase and needed extra help to open, Radulescu said. The West Lot serves as an overflow lot for these employees, and is in use throughout both day and night shifts. From the parking lot, H-E-B runs a contracted shuttle to the store for its employees.

Morgan said if parking issues did arise as a result of this temporary parking, he would negotiate a solution at that time, likely moving parkers to the Greenbriar Lot or West Lot 4. He also encourages students to contact parking@rice.edu should they run into problems.

"At this time, it's not anything we proactively see as something that needs to be implemented," Morgan said.

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