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PROPOSAL FOR PARKING: RED AND BLUE LOTS
I have always been a parking rebel. Back when Dr. Kelvin Ogilvie was President, he had a designated spot for parking on University Avenue as one for a member of the “Board of Governors”. He presumably did not want to draw attention to having a designated spot for the “President of the University”, and as he served on the Board, this was essentially his own spot. At the time, I, too was on the Board of Governors, and on several occasions parked in the spot, thinking all Board members were equal. Only then did the sign change to what it is to this day, parking for the “President of Acadia University”, which some could take to be a coincidence. I resumed my role as mere faculty member, parking in the mud in the temporary lot on Westwood when I could get a spot.
The study of parking that was conducted in conjunction with the campus plan four or so years ago concluded that 20% or so of parking spaces at Acadia were central to the campus, and 80% peripheral. Other aspects of the campus plan sought to remove parking from areas “interior to the campus” largely for cosmetic and congestion reasons, and since that time, parking has disappeared or become metered from areas near the BAC, University Avenue, and Seminary House. More peripheral parking was prepared up near Crowell Tower, Pay and Display has been instituted, and use has been encouraged in the expansive under-utilized parking lot at the arena.
While we all recognize that there are few precious spaces in the central areas of campus (now less than 15% or so), the question is what to do with them. Right now, there is a single parking pass available for all parking, with the exception of an arena-only facilities pass parking. Faculty have often argued that the central parking spaces on campus should go to faculty and staff. There are of course some dissidents in this opinion, and I stumbled into some of that when AUFA-Open was the preoccupation of a few. But I believe faculty and other employees of the university should have the “better parking”. Call me an elitist.
What I have proposed in the past has been a simple policy of “Red and Blue” parking passes. “Red lots” would be those in the centre of campus, and only employees of Acadia University would be allowed to buy a red parking pass and park in a red lot. “Blue lots” would be those on the north and south ends of campus: the arena and whatever is near Crowell Tower. A red parking pass could park in a blue lot, but a blue pass could not park in a red lot. Because there would only be two huge blue parking lots, only these would need signs saying what color they were. Commissioners who police parking would have very little additional work on their hands other than checking to see if a blue parking pass was in a red lot, which would then get ticketed. A different colored parking pass might give them a clue: perhaps even red and blue passes with the school year on it (surely we have run out of the kaleidoscope of colors being used to mark passes from different years, as if we have all saved our “Hunter Orange” pass from 1998 to reuse in 2018). You could even say that this was only a “9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m rule” given parking is not policed much in the evening, and students might want access to the SUB in the evening without worrying about the color of their parking pass. No “parking gates” or complicated card checking systems would be needed to enforce this: just a little more checking from the parking police who are not color-blind.
What is wrong with this proposal? First, I have heard that this proposal does not treat students and faculty/employees as equals. Actually I feel less than equal right now when I come to work, try to park in the War Memorial parking lot, and students have cars in “long term storage” broken down and covered in snow in that parking lot. Is this a wise use of the precious 15% of parking spaces? I hold Acadia students in the highest regard, but feel as a faculty member I have earned the right to park 300 yards closer to my workplace, and believe other employees through their hard work have earned that right too. I do not believe we should have to come to work at 8:00 in order to get parking, have to “race for spots” at 8:20, or “park in the trees” as we do in the lot below the KCIC on Westwood.
Second, I have heard that I should be happy to march up the hill with my laptop from arena parking. Well fitness is a personal choice, and faculty should have the right to choose how to deal with their fitness, particularly when it is 8:20 and they are trying to get to an 8:30 class on time, and have to park at the arena. Not a great time to get fit, or doused in rain while getting fit.
Third, I have heard that a “Red and Blue” parking plan would be costly, take too much time to police, and not guarantee parking anyway. I do not agree with the first two excuses, nor would I endorse differential pricing of the two kinds of parking. I do agree that such a plan would not guarantee parking, but at least it would provide a bit more parking for faculty/employees, and we would know that at least the university was doing what it could for faculty and other employees. I do not wish to interfere with the desire of some faculty to bike, walk, skateboard, or ski to work if that is their wish, nor do I want to interfere with whether people live in Wolfville. I just want to know that Acadia University values the work of their faculty and other employees enough to give them a slightly better shot at scant parking during the school year which is a little closer to their workplace, with a little less rain, sleet, and snow between them and their day’s work. For my own sake, I promise to daily do 50 sit ups in my office for fitness purposes once I get there if such a plan is instituted.
Doug Symons
Psychology