"I'm reporting you & the parking office"

[snugglegirl05]

"Nancy" in the parking office called me this morning to tell me to let 2 handicapped students park in Visitor parking even though there were only enough parking spots for people on the event list & every handicapped parking spot in Visitor parking was full.

So now we are short spots for people on the event list.

The handicapped spots were still full, & we were still short spots when a handicapped parker (who I dealt with in the past a couple of times) arrived to park. When she has arrived in the past & Visitor parking was reserved & every handicapped spot was full, she was extremely frustrated & argumentative. The big white sign stating Visitor parking is closed for an event was blocking the entrance to the garage at times when she arrived to park. She would tell me that she drove around for 30 minutes looking for a spot to park in, but could not find any. Since she was extremely frustrated at that point, I let her vent, & then I offered the options I knew. At that point, she would say "So am I supposed to miss class or what? & why does the university do this to me?" I just let her vent.

She arrived this morning extremely frustrated & argumentative because she had been driving around for 30 minutes looking for a spot, but could not find one. The big white sign stating Visitor parking is closed for an event is blocking the entrance to the garage. I tell her I will check to see if there are any available spots knowing there are none. So I go inside the garage to do a space count, & we are still short spots for people on the event list, & every handicapped spot is still full. I tell her the bad news. She repeats what she said in the past when Visitor parking was closed for an event & every handicapped parking spot was full, & then she says "I will report you and the parking office."

[bainsidhe]

Now this raises an interesting point. Universities are built (at least nowadays) to have access for the disabled (such as chair ramps, elevators, etc). How is parking handled? My old university is trying to become a "pedestrian friendly" college, which is terrific for the landscaping, but students have to walk a minimum of a few blocks to get to the correct building for class. What about disabled students? Not everyone has or needs scooter chairs, and walking a longer distance can be quite trying. I'm just wondering.

[snugglegirl05]

Now this raises an interesting point. Universities are built (at least nowadays) to have access for the disabled (such as chair ramps, elevators, etc). How is parking handled? My old university is trying to become a "pedestrian friendly" college, which is terrific for the landscaping, but students have to walk a minimum of a few blocks to get to the correct building for class. What about disabled students? Not everyone has or needs scooter chairs, and walking a longer distance can be quite trying. I'm just wondering.

At the university where I work, there are several handicapped parking spots in the faculty/staff garage, which is adjacent the Visitor parking & several handicapped spots at one of the university owned surface lots. You can walk to the university from that surface lot, but it is a little too far from the campus. So a shuttle bus picks up & drops off students in front of the campus instead. There are several handicapped parking spots right next to where the shuttle bus picks up the students. But one student told me that the university sold too many parking permits for handicapped & non-handicapped students.

According to the parking office, whenever the handicapped spots in the faculty/staff garage are full (& students & faculty/staff members can buy a handicapped parking permit to park in that garage), they can park in a handicapped spot in Visitor parking provided there is one available & Visitor parking is not reserved. This is when the handicapped student/faculty/staff member gets upset. They tell me the parking office told them they could park in Visitor parking when every handicapped spot in the faculty/staff garage is full. So I call the parking office to confirm, & I am told by them only if there is an open handicapped spot & Visitor parking is not reserved.