With the arrival of the fall semester, the Department of Public Safety is implementing new rules and regulations for parking on both the Mount Carmel and York Hill campuses, according to Parking and Transportation Coordinator Shanon Grasso.
Grasso said one change that has been implemented will be the elimination of the Hilltop Parking Lot decal. She said the issue was brought to her attention by the Student Government Association (SGA).
SGA Sophomore Class Representative Joe Iasso said he started an initiative in the spring semester of the 2015-2016 academic year to see which student services could provide more resources for the larger population of students.
“The general vibe last year was that the freshman class is way too big,” he said. “Everything is oversaturated here and we are overpopulated and nothing could happen because of it. So I looked at what students particularly thought was oversaturated and one of them was parking.”
Grasso said the main reason for the elimination of the Hilltop decal is because of the inequity between students.
“Here you have this prime parking location, unfortunately it’s only about 600 spaces,” she said. “The lucky few drew the magic card and got Hilltop while the others had to park in the garage.”
Grasso said the new decal will give sophomores an equal chance to find a parking space in Hilltop.
“It opens up equal opportunity for everyone to have that opportunity to park in Hilltop,” Grasso said. “Will there be enough spaces for everyone at one time? No, but it gives students that hunting license to find a space.”
Sophomore Nicole Donzella said even though the system is more fair, it also makes it harder to rely on having a parking spot.
“It makes it harder because you have to waste time going to Hilltop and looking for a space but if there are no spots you have to go to York or Westwoods, when before if you didn’t have [a Hilltop decal] you would just know,” she said.
Residence Hall Directors, Resident Assistants and other graduate students or upperclassmen living on the Mount Carmel campus have special decals that allow them to park in Hogan Lot, according to Grasso. She said she believes this is fair for them so they are guaranteed a spot as opposed to just having first preference.
“I think [opening Hogan lot is] fair,” she said. “Is it a little inconvenient? Yes, but everyone is inconvenienced at some point. You have to do what is right for the majority.”
Along with moving these select students to Hogan Lot, Grasso said the front row of Hilltop will be reserved for 20-minute parking from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day.
Senior Nick Manson said the system is fair for the sophomores as opposed to the previous system, but also has some disadvantages.
“Everyone has an equal chance to park in a nice location,” he said. “But it also creates the problem of driving up to Hilltop and looking, looking, looking for a parking space and not finding one.”
Grasso said she hopes these changes will help with alleviating the amount of cars in the parking lot.
“If I know the students who go here, the lots will level out,” she said. “If sophomores go up [to Hilltop] and there is no space, then they have to go to Westwoods or the parking garage.”
Students will also have their parking privileges revoked if they gather five or more tickets throughout the year, according to Grasso.
Grasso sent out a summary of rules and regulations for each decal after students registered their vehicle online. She said it is important for students to read the rules and know them so no one ends up with a parking ticket.
“I feel it’s my duty to make sure you guys have all of the information in the world,” she said. “If students choose not to read what I send out, then there is not a whole lot we can do.”
