Parking crunch lines UO’s pocket
■ From permits to meters
to citations, the University
makes money, but students
shouldn’t count on spaces
By Beata Mostafavi
Oregon Daily Emerald
Peter Vomocil has spent up to 30
minutes driving around campus in
search of a parking spot and said he
views other cars as “vultures” he
has to fight off.
Although Vomocil, a junior the
ater arts major, spends about $80 a
term for a parking permit, some
days he’s forced to find a metered
spot. And even then, he sometimes
ends up losing out, either because
space is limited or he’s ticketed for
parking illegally or letting the me
ter run out.
“Parking is cutthroat on this
campus,” he said.
Vomocil is not the only critic of
University parking.
The Department of Public Safety
gives out about 6,000 parking per
mits throughout the year, although
there are only about 3,200 spots
available at one time. This includes
the nearly 500 metered spots on
campus, which doesn’t always ac
commodate everyone who drives to
school.
Rand Stamm, DPS parking and
transportation manager, said DPS
collects about $25,000 to $40,000 a
year from citations, with overtime
meters probably responsible for the
bulk of the fines.
With such limited parking space,
many students choose to avoid the
parking war and find alternative
ways to get to class, which has been
encouraged by DPS. •
Stamm said that because of peo
ple’s different schedules, “there’s
almost always some open spaces
anytime of the day,” but some spots
are farther away, and students fight
for closer spaces.
Stamm added that driving to
school isn’t always the most rea
sonable mode of transportation
anyway.
“With such a tremendous popu
lation density on campus, it makes
much more sense economically
and environmentally for people to
use alternative means of transporta
tion,” he said.
Junior psychology major Sara
beth Leitch, who lives about 13
blocks away from campus and isn’t
close to a bus line that runs regular
ly, normally rides her bike to school
to steer clear of parking chaos.
“Biking takes so much less time
than finding a place to park,” she
said.
Leitch sometimes drives when
she has to go to school directly
from work, but even on those days
she tries to find a two-hour parking
spot on a street, which has its own
inconveniences.
“It’s all about luck,” she said of
finding a place to park off-campus.
“And I’ve also left class early to
move my car because I didn’t want
to get a ticket.”
But when students get desperate
to find a spot quickly in order to
avoid being late to an exam or miss
ing a class, parking illegally is
sometimes the lesser of two evils.
Vomocil, who said he has spent
almost $55 in parking fines in the
past two weeks, said one of his
biggest arguments is that some me
ters only allow 45-minute or 1-hour
parking, which sometimes isn’t
even sufficient for one class period.
“There are days I’m willing to
park illegally just to get a spot,” he
said.
Stamm added that one option
many students don’t know about is
auto-park, a small electronic device
that allows students to pre-pay for
meter spots at a 5 percent discount.
Students can purchase an auto
park pass at the DPS office.
Although some students may
wish the University would offer
parking spaces at no cost, Stamm
OUS funding rally to hit Salem
■ Higher education backers
head to the Capitol to rally
the state’s budget-makers
By Andrew Adams
Oregon Daily Emerald
More than 800 people are ex
pected to gather on the steps of the
capitol in Salem today to show
their support for more state fund
ing to be directed toward higher
education.
Gov. John Kitzhaber’s proposed
budget for the 2001-2003 bienni
um for the Oregon University Sys
tem is nearly $100 million less
than the amount needed to main
tain the current service level. Tu
ition is also expected to increase
over the next few years.
In response to the threat of less
funding and increased tuition, the
Oregon Student Association has
organized a rally in which they
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hope to bring together students,
faculty, parents, business leaders
and representatives from all seven
schools in the OUS to show their
support for more higher education
funding.
John Wykoff, legislative director
for the Oregon Student Associa
tion, said the rally will feature sev
eral different speakers comment
ing on why quality higher
education in Oregon is threatened
by the budget cuts.
“We’re having the rally to raise
the noise level about higher educa
tion,” he said.
Wykoff added that speakers will
also remark on the strengths of the
state’s colleges and universities
that demand adequate funding.
The Alumni Association has
been active in motivating alumni
to join in the rally, said Paul
Steiber, the association’s commu
nication director.
He said he expects a few hun
dred alumni to attend the rally to
express their sense of gratitude
and appreciation for what a uni
versity education has helped them
achieve.
“Alumni have great feelings for
higher education,” he said.
Tim Black, advocacy director for
the Office of Governmental Affairs,
said the rally is being held at a key
point in the budget process. He
said the state’s budget will begin to
be discussed in the Ways and
Means Subcommittee on March
19, and many funding decisions
will be made soon after.
He said it is important then for
state legislators to know that high
er education has a high level of
support in the state.
“We definitely want a big
turnout,” he said.
said there’s no such thing as “free”
parking because all lots have main
tenance expenses, which are paid
for mainly by meters, permits and
citations. He added that the Univer
sity had considered building a
parking garage years ago but re
ceived too much public opposition.
But some students say that even
if more parking spaces were avail
able, they’d choose other alterna
tives because it’s not worth the as
sociated costs. Junior psychology
major Laura Shula said that she’d
still walk to school to avoid the
trouble.
“It’s a hassle to find parking, and
I’m a poor college student,” she
said.
Stamm added that no matter
how many parking spots are added,
people will perceive parking to be
a problem because available spaces
won’t be in desired locations.
“There’s a joke that no one will
be happy until everybody can park
right in front of the building they
need to go to,” he said. “You can
never make everyone happy.”
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Adventures in Listening
UO School of Music
Chamber Music Series
A Generation X
Ensemble to Watch!
— CHAMBER MUSIC MAGAZINE
THE CYPRESS QUARTET, winner of the 1999
Chamber Music Yellow Springs Competition,
perfectly represents America's next
generation of great chamber music players
You can see and hear why as they bring their
youthful energy and artistry to Beall Hall,
performing three unforgettable quartets
by Haydn, Bartok, and Mendelssohn.
Thursday, March 8 • 8 p.m.
BEALL CONCERT HALL
Reserved Seats $25, $20, $10 — available at the
Hult Center (682-5000) or EMU Ticket Office (346-4363).
Free Musical Insights by Robert Hurwitz, 7 p.m.