University security has issued a “color coded sticker system,” which identifies where people park based on where they live. But parking remains a big battle recently due to the 2,600 registered cars on campus.
The search for improvements goes on, including talk of a campus parking garage.
“A parking garage is something that’s been discussed, but there’s a lot of factors involved,” said Frank Ficko, the associate director of security. Such factors include funding, appearance, and space for its location.
The first and most determinable factor is cost. “A parking garage would be very expensive but maybe Fairfield could use the money that they make off parking tickets to help pay for it,” said Dan Reid, ’02.
According to last year’s statistics, Fairfield made $130,000 off parking tickets, which goes to the University general fund. But Ficko said the cost could be in the millions of dollars for a large structure such as a parking garage.
If Fairfield decided to build a parking garage, it would be built over an existing parking lot. Such a move would upset some students.
“Fairfield is a beautiful campus and I think a parking garage would take away from its appearance,” said Christine Cuddy, ’02.
While aesthetics is an important factor, other students feel that having a sufficient amount of parking is more important.
“A parking garage would eliminate a lot of issues in terms of parking, and I think that’s more important than it’s appearance,” said Elizabeth Hasten, ’02.
One student even suggested a location for a parking garage. “I think Fairfield should add a parking garage by the library,” said Michelle Tomec, ’02. “It’s convenient to many of the buildings and we need more parking spaces to match the overflow of cars.”
However, Ficko thinks that with our shuttle system and if more people walked to their destination instead of driving, Fairfield can avoid having a parking garage. “We are a pedestrian campus, people need to walk,” said Ficko.
Ficko doesn’t see the necessity of a parking garage at this point. Since Fairfield started the “sticker system,” the parking complaints have gone down from what they used to be.
Unfortunately though, the “sticker system” doesn’t provide convenient parking for everyone.
“Fairfield is a big campus, and sometimes driving somewhere a 15 minute walk away is very tempting,” said Matt Powers, ’02. “It all depends if it’s worth the possibility of getting a ticket for being out of your color zone.”
That ticket is a chance students have to take when parking out of their color zone. According to Ficko, in order for the “sticker system” to work, there has to be strict enforcement. “If we didn’t strictly enforce the ‘sticker system,’ the concept would lose its credibility,” he said.
Some students agree with Ficko. “I’ve been to other schools where parking is so much worse than it is here,” said Carla Bianchi, ’02. “If people followed the rules, the parking system at Fairfield would be a lot better,” she said.
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