On August 5, 2009, Gary Caton told (see video below) Channel 9 that Parking and Transportation Services supply a sufficient number of parking spaces for students.
However, on August 16, 2010, the Parking Services posted an article titled “It’s Going to be Tight, Parking Reality Check“. The article says “Hundreds and hundreds of spaces were added and so were that many new students. Do the math.” If I do the math…
X spots in 2009 + hundreds of new spots = x+hundreds
and… X students in 2009 + hundreds of new students = x+hundreds
so… the new students are able to park in the new spots. So what? There are still not enough spots on campus for students to park; the initial problem still exists.
The good news is that they are adding a deck near the new EPIC building that will accommodate 1300 vehicles. The bad news is that the deck will not be finished until 2012. Between now and 2012, hundreds of new students will be attending UNCC.
They are also building other new decks and lots, but at the same time the are removing other lots in order to build building in those places. It seems that they are swimming upstream and not thinking about the future. There are students that have to arrive on campus an hour or more before there class so that they can use that hour to drive around and around to try and find a spot. That hour could be a lot more useful if they could use in to study instead of having to literally hunt for a parking spot for an hour.
Parking Services does offer remote lots off of campus, but you still have to arrive early at those lots and then wait for a shuttle to come pick you up.
What is your view?
Channel 9′s UNCC parking investigation
video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zo7PA5s57tU
