Students struggle to find parking

By Richard Nieva

Junior Sara Sorto drove into the parking garage three times last week, looking for a parking space before class. Three times, she was disappointed.

"For the first time in two years for me, there was no parking in the parking structure," said Sorto. "You pay so much money for a parking permit and you can't even park there."

Sorto is one of many commuter students who have had difficultly finding parking, as construction for the new library and business school have closed lots and increased the number of cars parking at Santa Clara.

The new 86,000-square-foot business school is located directly on top of what once was a parking lot, eliminating spaces that commuter students and staff parked in last year.

In addition, the old Alameda lot, 44 spots located east of the alumni sciences building and west of the new business school, has closed for construction until September 2008.

To address the problem, the parking lot adjacent to the main entrance, now called the third mission site, has been expanded from 140 to 190 spaces, said Campus Safety Director Charlie Arolla in an e-mail to law students, who have called in with the most parking complaints.

Both the library and business school developments are large construction projects, Arolla said, with the library alone requiring 150 workers who temporarily use the F lot, adding about 100 cars.

Spaces also become more limited on certain days when large vehicles like concrete pourers are scheduled for use.

While he admits to construction having an impact on parking, Arolla said there are always spaces available for university permit-holders. The trick is for a driver to not make the parking garage his or her main objective, said Arolla.

He also noted that a parking permit only grants permission to use university parking and does not assure it.

Arolla said a new camera system is still in development, where the officer tending the kiosk at the university's main entrance could see if there is still parking available in the main garage, saving the driver a needless trip to the structure.

The peak hours students search for parking are from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., when the most classes are scheduled, said Assistant Vice President for University Operations Joe Sugg, though he added spots still can be found.

"I can guarantee you there will be a parking space," Sugg said. "It may not be two feet from where you want to go, but it's a 10-minute walk to anywhere on campus."

Annual parking permits for the B, C, D and E lots, the parking areas located closest to campus buildings, cost $250 per year. The reduced-fee F lot, located outside Leavey Center and farthest from most classrooms, is $165.

Other groups that may be particularly strained by the parking issue are non-permit holders and longer-distance commuters. Senior Raquel Galindo is a non-permit holder who parks off campus.

"All the four-hour spots are always taken," she said. "There's not enough parking."

Galindo also said she was going to buy a parking permit, but was dissuaded by constant complaints from her permit-holding friends about parking difficulties.

But junior Michelle Garcia, another non-permit holder, has had some luck.

"It actually hasn't changed anything -- before construction and during," said Garcia, who travels half an hour to campus each day.

With limited parking off campus, there may be a temptation to park illegally on campus, but Arolla said the number of parking citations issued has been consistent with other years.

Though the university does not record the exact number of parking spaces available, Sugg said the number has increased from about 2,000 spaces to over 3,000 in the last six years, largely due to building the parking structure.

Within the next two years, the university will create additional visitor spaces by tearing down the archaeology research lab near the main entrance, said Sugg.

Contact Richard Nieva at (408) 554-4546 or rnieva@scu.edu.