Breeze Perspectives: Putting parking in plain view
Time to count our vehicular blessings
By Craig Finkelstein, contributing writer
Posted on September 14, 2006

It’s the same old complaint every year, just from a different student; in fact, it’s almost a requirement that there must be some article in The Breeze detailing the futility of the parking situation or some student writing in to groan about not being able to find a spot on campus. Well, let it be known that despite how emotionally distraught the parking situation on campus must make many of you, if people were only to sit back and put it into perspective, they would realize that parking on campus is not that bad and actually is the best that we could hope for.

First, let’s imagine that there were no parking permits and that parking on campus was completely free and open to anyone. That concept, in and of itself, would be chaotic. If you think it’s difficult to find a spot now when there is a system, there would be absolutely no hope of ever being able to park without the system. 

For instance, in my apartment complex, the week before school when there was no towing and parking passes were not enforced, nearly every spot was filled, making it impossible for us residents that live and pay rent there to find a spot. Now that towing is enforced, I never have a problem finding a place to park.

Next, let’s examine the issue of the cost of a parking permit to park on campus. Student commuter parking permits cost around $172 this year to park on campus all year in commuter-designated lots. If you think this is too much to pay, consider that this averages out to about $0.50 per day to park your car on campus. Still think it’s a lot? Then try going to the University of Delaware, a public university just like JMU, where students are charged anywhere from $225 to $400 a year to park, depending on whether or not you are a commuter or a resident.

Four years of the parking situation on campus is a vacation compared to what it is like in the real world. Take Washington, D.C., for example, where I commuted to and from my posh Northern Virginian estate every summer. Adding up the $3.75 a day to park at the Metro, plus the $3.20 each way to ride the actual Metro, and I was literally paying $10 a day to get to work. Only the “higher ups” in the business received the ability to park at the office building, while the rest of the thousands of workers did what nearly every other person does to get to the district: they found alternate routes other than their private vehicle.

And that is a method that should be employed more here at JMU if students are going to continue to whine about parking. Utilize the amazing public transportation system that Harrisonburg has to offer, or you can choose to walk, ride your bike or carpool. You may eventually have to undertake these methods later in the real world so you might as well start practicing now. If you are an environmentalist, you can feel great about saving the environment by reducing excess pollution from your car. Additionally, instead of having to pay $2-plus for a gallon of gas to run your car, you can instead use that money for more important things — like a $3-plus frappuccino at Starbucks every morning.

Those of us who have cars and can drive to campus every morning should be grateful, because there are many students out there who aren’t as fortunate to have cars, yet they somehow find a way to class every day. The parking system is the way it is, and instead of attempting to abuse it and make it even worse, we should instead make the best of it and quit laying the blame on a higher authority for something as trivial as finding a parking spot.

Craig Finkelstein is a senior international affairs major.