Editor:
On a good day I try to arrive at the Park and Speedway garage between 7:15 and 7:20 a.m. in order to find a decent parking space. This method has worked for the past three years. I have now decided that I will have to get here at about 7 a.m. just to find any place to park. This will give the UA an extra hour of my time (at no extra pay) each day Ÿ what a deal for the university. I wonder what the Parking and Transportation cut will be.
Yesterday, because I had personal business, I and about 25 others arrived at the garage at 9:30 a.m. There was not one parking space available for permit holders. We circled around the garage for nearly half an hour. Up and down the ramps we went, circling around like a pack of wolves or a flock of buzzards. Each of us was praying we would be the first to spot our prey as they were walking to their car. We follow slowly behind, hoping they were invisible to everyone else.
As we rounded the curves heading up and down the ramps, we would each stop and peer at the 169 empty spaces in the new visitor area. We would all hesitate and wonder if anyone would notice if we just bumped a couple of those little rubber poles and went on in. I guess we all decided that even though we were wolves or buzzards, we were honest wolves or buzzards, and all the poles remained in a standing position. I finally got my space at about 10 a.m., making me a half-hour later to work than anticipated.
Since 90 percent of the new visitor parking area was empty, I wonder how Parking and Transportation will pay the new employee who guards the entrance to the great wasteland of parking Ÿ and what are they paying them to do? Another question is, where does this new employee park (I have been told there is a long waiting list for a parking permit at the Park and Speedway garage) and what time do they have to arrive in order to find a parking space?
Betty Rawlings
Accountant, Speech and Hearing Sciences