Brittany Westerberg

SDSU may see some parking changes during the next few months.

Most of these changes will be caused by construction.

“Every time we build a new building, we have to close part of a parking lot for construction,” Elizabeth Fox, chair of the Parking and Traffic Committee, said. Once the Wellness Center is completed, she said, that part of the parking lot that is closed off now will be reopened, but once the construction on the new Science Center begins, they will have to close parking in that part of campus.

One concern is that while the university is closing parking spots, there aren’t any new parking spots being added to compensate.

There was another parking lot added near the Performing Arts Center on the east side of campus, but the fact is that there is little room to build more parking areas within campus.

“We would like to be able to build parking lots,” Fox said, “but it’s not feasible.”

“We only have so much space,” Andy Walker, Students’ Association senator and chair of the Traffic, Parking and Appeals Committee said. “It kind of puts us in a tight spot.” And, with the construction and parking areas closing, “It puts a lot of pressure on those parking spots that are left.”

There is also little money being put toward building new parking lots, which are expensive. The state does not fund parking lots, and so if they were to build more, the money would have to come from elsewhere, such as students’ tuition and fee monies.

These reasons are why both Fox and Walker stress that everyone obey the traffic and parking rules on campus.

One rule is broken every day in front of The Student Union. In the middle row of parking to the east of The Union, where last year there were two more parking spots, there is now an area to drive through so that people do do not have to back up when they get to the end of the row. Cars are continuously parked in this area, making it impossible for people to use it as it is meant to be used.

There is also no parking in the small loop in front of The Union. Fox said that it was brought to her attention a while ago, and she wanted to stress that while there is no yellow line marking the area as no parking, there is also no curb. Just because somebody else is parked in the area does not give others the right to park there.

Fox also mentioned that students and faculty parking in student commuter and faculty parking lots are not permitted to park there from 2 a.m. to 5 a.m. The University Police Department is going to be enforcing this policy in an effort to lessen the problems they might have with it after winter comes and they need to get snowplows into the lots.

Walker asked that students and others parking on campus use their common sense. White lines mark parking, and yellow lines signal the end of parking spots. If everyone parks in parking spots and between the lines, there will be more room for everyone and less problems.

#1.883210:238954414.jpg:parkinglot.sb.jpg:This parking lot may see more competition for spaces after others close.:Stephen Brua