Green Spaces?
Tuesday, November 24th, 2009Good morning –
Thank you for your comments both in support of and in opposition to this planned change. In my haste to share the news I did not provide the context and clarification that led to it so I shall do it here. I apologize if it is lengthy but wanted to make sure I addressed the concerns raised.
About 18 months ago, I was approached separately by two campus groups seeking ways to better support sustainability around campus parking. One of the original ideas proposed was to institute carpooling spaces in the visitors lot. This is a great idea however managing it would be difficult without adding additional staff to ensure folks who are utilizing carpool spaces are actually carpooling. Also, while there are many faculty and staff who work in buildings near the visitor lot there are many who do not so it is not convenient for everyone who may want to participate in such a program. And because of the number of events we have on campus and visitors conducting business at and for the College, the visitor lot is full most of the time during the business day.
Not having been able to provide the support needed for the initial idea, I tried to come up with something that might support sustainability, one of our stated campus values, and thought about the alternative vehicle spaces. I proposed the idea of these spaces with Grounds, the Sustainability Coordinator and Parking Services. The idea was supported but only for use in the larger parking areas closest to the areas with the highest concentration of faculty and staff. Further, knowing that the Alumni Center construction project would impact parking significantly, no changes were to be made until we regained a portion of that lot which we did last month. We are very conscious of the delicate balance required to optimize parking and unfortunately, some things (construction projects) are beyond our control and as the campus continues to upgrade facilities we have to provide space for that to happen.
Having read through all of the responses, two issues seem to be consistent: one is the perception of unfairness of some type of specialized spaces and the other is the perception that ownership of a hybrid or alternative fuel vehicle is relegated to those who have more resources.
Specialized spaces – I can understand the concern some of you raised however we already operate in a system (created long before my arrival) where some populations have preference in parking over others. The number of faculty and staff spaces has increased by 153 spaces since Fall 2001 (a 26% increase in spaces) while commuter student spaces have increased by about 20% and been moved farther away from the center of campus. Faculty and staff parking continues to be free and the cost for printing and distribution of permits and administering parking is borne by Parking Services.
Vehicle Ownership – Wording for the planned spaces was selected so that they were not specifically for hybrids only but for alternative fuel vehicles as well. These spaces could also be used for scooter and motorcycle parking when weather permits. As the owner of an almost 11 year old vehicle with 160,000 miles on it (with no current plans for replacement) I support not putting another vehicle in a landfill just to replace it with a newer vehicle. I don’t have any data that indicates whether the individuals on campus who operate hybrid or alternative fuel vehicles are greater resources than anyone else although that is clearly the perception.
SO…Since there is so much debate around this issue, I have asked Grounds to delay installation of the signs until there has been an opportunity for members of the campus to more fully process this idea and any others that community members might wish to make.
As they say, “I have no horse in this race”, just trying to support the campus values.