A
SLIGHTLY SOPHOMORIC REPORT ON THE MOST RECENT MEETING OF
THE
PARKING COMMITTEE
The Parking Committee met on
April 27th, and since some of you were wondering who was on the committee, let
me begin my report by properly setting the scene: the meeting,
held in the Meeting Room of the KCIC, was cheerfully chaired by Don
Holmesdale; (Director, Security) in the absence of Claude O’Hara (President's
Office), with minutes taken by Patti Davis (Administrator, Security); also
present were Les Gilholme (General Manager, Physical Plant), Karen Wilder
(IT Integrator, Alumni Affairs, AUPAT), Jason Levy (Systems,
Library, SEIU), Melissa Kendrick (Acquisitions, Library), Tomasz Muldner
(Computer Science, AUFA) and
A number of 'faculty concerns' were dealt with in tandem with the agenda items placed by Les Gilholme and Don Holmesdale. Les (I think after such a meeting we can dispense with formalities and speak on a first name basis, don't you?) had reported that some new bicycle racks were being installed in places of need throughout the campus (e.g. the BAC). No one on the committee had ever seen a bicycle shelter but Les agreed to take a follow-up call from Glyn to explain the proposal further. (Note to Glyn: give Les Gilholme a call about bicycle shelters.) With some chagrin (a lovely word, don't you think?), Don reported that of two proposals put forward for parking projects--one for parking lot improvements on University Ave across from the Physical Plant costing about $90k, another for safety improvements (lighting, blue box) to the lot near Wheelock (I think) costing about $35k--only the less costly (and more pressing) was approved. The 'chagrin' factor comes from having to report this decision in face of his impending statistics report which included reported revenues of about $180k!!! Don's chagrin (can never overuse a word like chagrin can you?) was mitigated by his happy news that Decal (a word one never wishes to misprint) Fees shall not increase for the next year (though I did wonder aloud why we did not speak of a decrease!) After duly reporting that Smart Card meters were installed around some of the campus (you can still plug in your nickels), and the usual sordid business of collecting revenues on outstanding tickets--you've seen Repo Man, haven't you? then, pay up!-- Don proceeded to review sundry items on his Statistics sheets, and, having done so, heartedly agreed with the observation made by myself and others that the sheet was pretty damn near useless as it reported only revenues without expenses, and so how could we argue about such things as Where Are Our Decal Fees Going And Why Don't We Have Better Parking??!! So, Don promised a more balanced sheet of statistics at the next meeting.
While we were on the item of parking, I introduced some of the faculty concerns and can report that Don said he would see if the town would look into giving free decal parking to spots behind the ATF, but most of these were already assigned to business owners, which left only a couple available--so not much hope for that, I'm afraid. Since I screwed up on emailing my agenda (replied to Les rather than Patti- oh, the pitfalls of subject lines!), the committee agreed to review the Symons’ article on parking in AUFA and make some response at the fall meeting. Meanwhile, the committee generally recognized that faculty and other employees were not entirely happy with the status quo, and that the issue of designated parking could not simply be dismissed. Much better news on the other Symons' item, regarding converting unused handicapped spots behind Horton to 'participant' spots, which Tomasz supported (Note to Sonya S. - contact Les Gilhome and Don Holmedale about this item). Also, Don was agreeable to provisioning loading decals for Patterson (Note to Eric A. - contact Les Gilhome and Don Holmedale about this item). Security and Administration were acutely aware of the challenges involved in providing alternate parking during construction of the new biology building, and had some plans in place to meet them. Tomasz's concerns about accessibility to KCIC were taken quite seriously by Les & Don. All agreed that something needed to be done, but that it was difficult to see what could be done given restrictions regarding the building.
Dutifully yours,
V. Provencal