Parking fees discourage students, campus visitors

By Emily Nichol     10/22/09 7:00pm

Police and ambulance sirens screeching through the heavy Texas air, the blaring roar of news helicopters hurtling to capture the latest development, the blinking lights of state-of-the-art medical buildings, the scent of freshly-ripped construction lumber wafting through the city stench - the metropolitan symbols perpetually resounding through the Rice campus make it easy to forget that the school is immediately surrounded by a residential community. All you need for a reminder, though, is to simply see the people milling about campus. Those in the residential community jog around the outer loop, attend sports events, use the library, come to art shows and populate summer programs with their children, some of whom may eventually go to college here. A few of the neighbors are alumni who loved Houston so much that they got jobs nearby and stayed in the area.

But is Rice being a bad neighbor?

This year Greenbriar Lot, set to the far west of the stadium, has been gated and now requires payment for parking, just like every other lot on campus. In the past Greenbriar was free, and although certainly the most inconvenient parking lot for students due to its location, it was a place they could leave their cars without having to pay exorbitant college lot fees and where any curious outsider could park.

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Now, people who want to take advantage of the beautiful campus, but who cannot pay the metered price, must park off campus and crowd surrounding residential streets, annoying Rice's neighbors and effectively discouraging visitors.

There is now literally no place on campus to park, even for a short amount of time, free of charge. Rice students who want to meet out-of-town friends on campus have a hard time. The only options for them are either shortened visits or paying for the closest parking available, and some visitors now prefer to pick up their Rice friends and venture off campus, which means missing out on the culture and beauty of the university.

Other students struggle because of this, too. Greenbriar still boasts the cheapest spaces, but it is so far away from the residential colleges that it makes little sense to park there given the fee. According to Google Maps, the lot is approximately one mile away from Wiess College. And you have to pay for it.

Why did Rice gate Greenbriar? It has never been close to filling its capacity - it was perhaps at its fullest during football games and Beer Bike, but there were always spots available due to the lot's sheer size. Now the lot is almost completely empty all the time. Not that many cars parked at the poorly placed lot in the first place, but a significant number of cars have disappeared since the gates showed up.

Is Rice just trying to squeeze out all the cash it can get, not only from students and faculty, but also from everyone who would want to visit the campus for any reason?

Rice's campaign to get students "beyond the hedges" of campus and into Houston is certainly a great thing. Many tasty restaurants within walking distance from campus offer student discounts; world-class museums have free days and price cuts; movie theaters, bicycle shops, vision clinics, hair salons and even flower vendors offer price reductions for Rice students. Both private companies and giant corporations show generosity towards the students, professors and staff of Rice.

But Rice needs to respect its fellow Houstonians by allowing them back inside the hedges to explore our wonderful school, and not keeping them out with petty fees and rude policies.

Emily Nichol is a Wiess College freshman.

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