If one were to ask any student on campus where he or she should park while visiting the Ferguson Center, the student would most likely respond by laughing. It is a universal fact that when visiting the Ferguson Center, one is better off walking there. Although it seems contradictory, there is no reasonable parking available for students at the Ferguson Student Center. Currently, the parking lot across the street from the university’s student center consists of five 30 minute parking spots available to anyone and another one hundred plus parking spots for faculty only. This leaves students attempting to look for a parking spot at the Ferguson Center with a choice: wait for someone to leave the thirty minute parking or risk receiving a fifty dollar ticket by parking in one of the numerous, empty faculty spots. Students looking to visit the student center in between their classes obviously do not have time to wait for one of the thirty minute parking spots to become available and so they are forced to take a risk by parking in one of the available faculty spots. Who can blame them when there are always plenty of faculty spots open? Like clockwork, rain or shine, students who have taken the bait and parked in an available spot can expect to return to their car and find a freshly printed ticket neatly placed beneath their windshield wiper. William Harvey, a sophomore at Alabama, said, “The week before school had even started, I went to go buy my books at the Ferg and the few thirty minute parking spots were obviously taken. It was raining, so I parked in one of the other empty spots and ran in to get my books. I got back to my car in fourteen minutes and I still had a soggy ticket on my windshield.”
The parking garage near the Ferguson Center is not a logical option for students either as students planning on parking there must be willing to pay three dollars each time they visit (“Maps and Directions”). It seems irrational that students visiting their own student center should have to pay to park there. A student could potentially pay over fifteen dollars every week at the Ferguson Center for parking alone. The majority of students do not have that kind of money to spend on parking, especially after having to spend over a hundred dollars on a parking pass just so they can make it to class. It is not that Alabama students do not want to visit their student center, it is simply the fact that they cannot get there in a practical way.
Another problem is the fact that most students who work at the Ferguson Center do not have a place to park and go to work because they are viewed as part of the normal crowd of students who come and go. If they were to try and park they would be issued a ticket if he or she does not have a permit for that area. For example one of our group members is a employee at the Ferguson Center and he has to park all the way by the Recreation Center and hope to catch the bus in time to ride to the Gorgas Library and from there walk to the Ferguson Center to make it to work on time. If he is working into the evening he has to either walk or wait for the Perimeter North Bus which takes longer than the buses in normal route during the day. If he ever tried to park by the Ferguson Center he risk getting a parking ticket even if its almost evening time in which they wouldn’t issue him a ticket. If he does get a ticket, being an employee at the Ferguson Center is not a good enough reason to lift any parking charges. It’s too much of a hassle to try and get a Faculty Staff parking permit because not everyone involved with work at the Ferguson Center is considered Faculty or Staff.
There is obviously a parking problem at the Ferguson Center, but a simple solution does exist. We propose that a four-level parking deck be built above the faculty parking lot across the street from the Ferguson Center. The upper three levels of parking would be available to all students for a two-hour period for no charge. Cars left in the garage for longer than two hours would receive a seventy-five dollar ticket. This would eliminate the problem of students having to pay to park at the Ferguson Center and the time limit would prevent students from leaving their car for unreasonable amounts of time. The ground level of the garage would remain reserved for faculty only, thus preventing faculty from losing the parking that already exists for them. Faculty would swipe their ACT card at a gate upon entering in order to obtain entrance while keeping guests and students out. In addition to serving as parking for students during the week, the University could make the parking available to guests on game days for twenty dollars. Guests would be required to move their cars before midnight or risk receiving a seventy-five dollar ticket.
In terms of raising funds for the parking, the money earned from game day parking charges could be used. For example, if the four-level parking garage had one hundred spaces on each level, game day parking could potentially gross up to $8,000 each week. With an average of seven home games each season, over $56,000 dollars could be raised each season from game day parking alone. Apart from this, if the University does not believe that this is a sufficient plan for paying for construction, they might try using the money students have been paying in years past for parking at the Ferguson Center. If that still is not enough, they could then use the money students have been ticketed after being lured into the trap of parking in one of the plethora of available faculty spots.
There is clearly a major problem when it comes to parking at The Ferguson Student Center, but building a parking deck is an efficient solution. We believe that with your help and the help of the other board members here at The Capstone, this problem can easily be solved and we can begin to focus our attention on some of the other issues on this campus. Change begins with one step, and we believe that this could be the beginning of a march towards the improvement of this university and, thus, the college experiences of Alabama’s students.
Works Cited
Harvey, William. Personal Interview. 10 Oct. 2009.
"Maps and Directions." The Ferguson Center. The University of Alabama, Web. 12 Oct 2009.
Testimony of parking experience from student Albert Jones
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