Title: Park At UMSL, Get Rear-ended
Author: Casey Meyer
Date: 8/20/02

Is anyone else out there fed up with the entire process involved in parking at UMSL? Nothing there is easy in any sense of the word.

When I began my college career at this institution in the fall of 1998, parking was at or near $16.00 per credit hour. I didn't think much of that at the time; my scholarships paid for nearly everything, including books and parking with what was left over. With the rise in tuition costs came a rise in parking rates, and the building of a new parking garage on the west side of campus by the Thomas Jefferson library. Each year the cost of parking my car for a few months rose to the current level of $20.00 per hour. Isn't that a little excessive? I believe that I could get a 4 month deal at a premier garage in downtown St. Louis for that price.

Now I understand that some of the new additions on the UMSL campus require funding, but it seems that the students are being charged a little too much. The Millenium Center and its walkway are very nice and beneficial to students as well as the two year old west parking garage, but the new garage on the east side of E. Mark Twain Dr. is in a very inconvenient location. Plus, the remaining parking garages lettered N and D are in desperate need of renovation.

Here's where it gets interesting. Anyone who has ever attended a class here beginning between 9:00 and 11:00 knows that you cannot find a parking space at any of these garages; nor can one be found in lot E or I. Many of us are required to pull in to lot K, which is about as close as parking at the N. Hanley Metrolink station if you have a course in Benton or Stadler Hall.

If that isn't enough, I have seen cars with Faculty stickers parked in student spaces. Is this not wrong? Students will receive tickets for parking in Faculty spots but not vice versa. To me, if we all pay the same there should be no Faculty or Special Permit parking spots anywhere!

One final thought: My first two parking passes were plastic decals, the ones that used static electricity to cling to the inside of your window. This was a very good idea for a parking pass. So why did they decide that reverting back to an inferior brand of parking pass would be better? An exterior sticker that fades and peels after only a week--which is also subject to removal by some hooligan who might want to steal your $200--is hardly a step up, so logic is evidently nonexistent to the "brilliant" minds who came up with that one. Why don't I just tape two $100 bills to the outside of my window and see if I can make it through a semester...