ON TUESDAY, Student Council discussed a proposed resolution to eliminate on-Grounds first-year parking privileges starting in the 2003-2004 school year.
This is a bad idea and Council should vote against it.
If the resolution passes, the Student Council Parking & Transportation Affairs Committee will send it along with recommendations from the University Transportation and Parking Advisory committee to Leonard W. Sandridge, executive vice president and chief operating officer of the University, who will make the final decision.
The main reason for this proposed change is because of the congestion on Grounds and in the Charlottesville community. Finding on-Grounds parking has been almost impossible lately, and more upperclassmen are expected to apply for University parking permits because of new restrictions on parking in the Venable and Jefferson Park Avenue areas. But this proposal will make it so that first years no longer can park at U-Hall, making it much more difficult for them to have a car second semester.
In a personal interview, Student Council Rep. Brandon Possin, a co-sponsor of the resolution, admitted that the resolution -- if passed and adopted by the administration -- would cause a significant decrease in the number of first years who bring their cars to Grounds second semester. First years should continue to have the option of having cars second semester, and in order for this to be feasible, they need on-Grounds parking at places such as U-Hall.
It is easy to propose that first years should simply not be allowed to have a car, since they are prohibited from having one first semester anyway. Many schools do not allow freshmen to have cars at all. But from personal experiences, I know that having a car second semester of first year is a good thing.
First of all, Charlottesville is a spread-out city. In terms of shopping, the Downtown Mall is not exactly a short walk, and Wal-Mart requires either driving or taking a bus. This is important because stores on Grounds such as the University Bookstore, the Treehouse and the Pav are all very expensive.
If a student does not want to be ripped off, he must venture off Grounds. From research I have done for a previous column about high prices at the Bookstore, I can point out how certain office supplies were cheaper at Staples than at the Bookstore; health supplies were cheaper at CVS, and even books were cheaper at Barnes & Noble ("Cautioning against cash cow mindset of bookstore," Oct. 26, 2001). In the interests of protecting the economic well-being of first years, they should be allowed to have a car.
But as anyone who has used UTS or the Charlottesville bus system knows, despite the efficiency of both, they are not as convenient as driving your own car. If a student must choose between buying some snacks at the Treehouse or Wal-Mart, a 40-minute bus ride to Wal-Mart may convince her to swallow her frugality and buy the food at the Treehouse. A second semester first-year student should have the ability to choose where he or she wants to shop.
Another issue is that there are many things to do and places to go in Charlottesville that are not to be found right next to the University. The most popular activity for first years appears to be going to frat parties. While this can certainly be fun, there is more to Charlottesville than Natty Light and puking. If a student has a car he or she can visit Monticello on a Sunday or go take a drive in the country. Without a car or an extremely benevolent upperclassmea to give them a ride, first years are stuck in C-ville.
Finally, a car allows those first years who live within driving distance -- which is probably most of this school with all of the NOVA and Richmond people -- to go home when they want to. If there is a family event or they just want to see their family and friends, a car allows a second semester first year this freedom which now may be taken away.
Let's pretend that first years still decide to bring cars second semester, which many probably will do, even though they won't be able to park them anywhere on Grounds. This means that they will be taking away parking spaces on JPA and 14th Street and other areas where upperclassmen live. It was not enough that certain neighborhoods now require parking permits. This resolution will make it even harder for upperclassmen who live off Grounds to park near their apartments or houses. Those in favor of the resolution were in part worried about the increased upper class demand for on-Grounds parking permits. If more first years are taking up spaces, this will only cause upperclass demand for on-Grounds permits to go up, thereby worsening the parking shortage.
Having a car second semester of first year is an opportunity that all upperclassmen got. Let's not deprive a new generation of the same choice that we got to make by cutting their parking privileges, or worst yet causing a further reduction in the spaces available for upperclassmen.
(Harris Freier's column usually appears Fridays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at hfreier@cavalierdaily.com.)
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