By Mike Mason
Arizona Daily Wildcat
September 29, 1997

More zone 1 parking needed

Editor:

In my early years at the UA, I never took much interest in school politics. Campus campaigns and issues meant little to me. However, now that I am older and wiser, I have begun to take interest in such issues, and one in particular. It is no secret that we need more Zone One parking. The number of lots on the interior of campus is much too few, and the overall number of parking spaces is so low that it is often difficult for Zone One permit holders to find convenient parking. As the UA grows, this problem could become catastrophic. The only solution I can see to this pressing situation is to tear down some of the many useless buildings that take up valuable campus space and build more Zone One lots. By "useless" I obviously mean buildings like fraternity and sorority houses and the various "student unions" maintained by campus-based religious groups. These buildings contribute nothing to the UA academic environment. Everyone knows that fraternities and sororities are only excuses for partying, and it is about time for the University to end its implicit sanction of this reckless behavior and evict these groups from campus. After all, a college campus is no place for frivolity or recreation.

As for the religious organizations, whose presence clearly violates the separation of church and state mandated by the Constitution, they should be relocated immediately. By removing these groups from campus, the UA can improve the academic atmosphere as well as provide much-needed parking for its students. What I am proposing might sound extreme until you consider that it would only be an extension of the University's current policy. The UA's seizure and eviction of those feeble family-owned businesses along Sixth Street is a step in the right direction, but for the sake of all of us who need to drive ourselves to school everyday, the Administration must continue to pursue its goal of being an automobile-friendly institution.

Mike Mason
English senior