UA, city at odds over parking

Wildcat File Photo Arizona Daily Wildcat UA Parking Enforcement Officer Mike Wallace issues a violation earlier this year to a vehicle in a Zone 1 parking lot at the corner of North Cherry Avenue and East Speedway Boulevard. Since 1992, the UA has issued an average of 41,660 parking tickets each year. The city of Tucson will be selling permits like Zone 1 in perimeter areas around campus.

Early in November, Tucson announced its intention to sell $300-$800 permits on city-owned streets within the University of Arizona's boundaries starting Feb. 1.

Associated Students President Tara Taylor, Executive Vice President Cisco Aguilar and Administrative Vice President Ryan Rosensteel drafted a letter to Tucson Mayor George Miller Nov. 10 requesting a public hearing on the matter, and ASUA began a petition drive to collect 3, 000 signatures to present to the Tucson City Council.

But Nov. 19, Tucson and the UA reached a late-night compromise that granted the university control of central campus streets. The UA agreed to stop trying to block the city plan to sell permits north of East Speedway Boulevard and west of North Park Avenue.

In exchange for the campus streets, the university agreed to pay $85,000 for city fire fighting services - a long-standing point of contention - and to turn over an undisclosed parcel of land for city use.

Tucson parking is expected to generate $200,000 in revenues from the $300-$800 permits on north and west campus streets, said Tucson Parking Program Coordinator Chris Leighton.

Implementation of the original plan - in the area bounded by North Campbell Avenue to the east, East Sixth Street to the south, Park Avenue to the west and East Lester Street to the north - would have pitted Tucson and university parking administrations against each other, said UA Parking Director Marlis Davis.

The encroachment on core campus streets could also have threatened the UA's proposed University Village Plan - a pedestrian-accessible neighborhood between Speedway Boulevard, Campbell Avenue, North Mountain Avenue and East Second Street.

The village, which will take years to complete, would necessitate the elimination of parking spaces along the same campus streets on which the city intended to sell spaces.

The city announced it would go ahead with the plan despite a compromise, initiated by Davis, in the works within its governing board.

The Transportation Enterprise Area Management Oversight Commission would have recommended Nov. 19 to allow the UA to run the city's permits sales for a two-year period.

But the city did not wait because officials felt the proposal would not be agreed upon, Leighton said.

Michael Lafleur can be reached via e-mail at Michael.Lafleur@wildcat.arizona.edu.