The parking lot shuffle
The parking saga continues
Jon Van Heel
Issue date: 11/28/02 Section: News
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Monday, barely afternoon, October 14, the parking lot is absolutely filled with stagnant vehicles. Through the windows of a gold Acura sedan, a man's head is seen, swiveling side to side on top of his tense shoulders, scanning the lot. His eyes dart behind the lenses of his prescription glasses. He looks like a predatory cat anxiously stalking the plains of the Serengeti for prey. During this day of the week, this hour of the day, parking spots are elusive. His vehicle is one of five patrolling the lot for a place to park.
"Parking is a bear here," says COM Sergeant Kesecker. From nine a.m. until the early afternoon, and then again at seven p.m., parking spaces in the centrally located lots are at a premium. "Students would probably like to park 10 yards from their classroom doors," said Kesecker, "but that just isn't possible."
Tonya Hayes relaxes behind the leather steering wheel of her parked green Jeep Cherokee. While Hayes waits for her friend to meet her back at the Jeep, a woman with cascading brown curls sticks her head partially out the window of a white coupe and asks, "Are you leaving?"
Hayes shakes her head horizontally delivering a negative response. The woman in the white coupe is the third person to ask the same question in the past ten minutes. She sets her eyes straight ahead and methodically resumes her search.
Five days a week, Hayes commutes via automobile to attend her four classes at COM. For Hayes, she feels there is no transportation alternative. In order to take a bus to school, she says she'd face a worse parking search at the San Rafael transportation center on Fourth Street. At least on Fridays she's noticed an improvement in parking availability.
The stress on the COM parking lots does experience a pattern. Sgt. Kesecker confirms that midday and seven p.m. are the most active times of the day. The parking lots are busiest at the beginning of the week and subside towards the weekend. The end of the semester also sees a decreasing use of the parking lots.
"Parking is a bear here," says COM Sergeant Kesecker. From nine a.m. until the early afternoon, and then again at seven p.m., parking spaces in the centrally located lots are at a premium. "Students would probably like to park 10 yards from their classroom doors," said Kesecker, "but that just isn't possible."
Tonya Hayes relaxes behind the leather steering wheel of her parked green Jeep Cherokee. While Hayes waits for her friend to meet her back at the Jeep, a woman with cascading brown curls sticks her head partially out the window of a white coupe and asks, "Are you leaving?"
Hayes shakes her head horizontally delivering a negative response. The woman in the white coupe is the third person to ask the same question in the past ten minutes. She sets her eyes straight ahead and methodically resumes her search.
Five days a week, Hayes commutes via automobile to attend her four classes at COM. For Hayes, she feels there is no transportation alternative. In order to take a bus to school, she says she'd face a worse parking search at the San Rafael transportation center on Fourth Street. At least on Fridays she's noticed an improvement in parking availability.
The stress on the COM parking lots does experience a pattern. Sgt. Kesecker confirms that midday and seven p.m. are the most active times of the day. The parking lots are busiest at the beginning of the week and subside towards the weekend. The end of the semester also sees a decreasing use of the parking lots.