Students with a car on campus dread it – receiving a permit for a dark, dirt lot that’s a good 15-minute walk from their dorm. However, this year parking services has made an effort to relieve a number of students from that stress by giving the Southwest yellow lot a makeover that consisted of repaving and expanding the lot as well as adding better lighting.
“The Southwest yellow lot was one of the worst of our student lots,” said Michael Brennan, manager of parking services. “The money to redo the lot came from permit fees and visitor revenues. We do try to save every penny, it all goes into our repair and renovate fund.”
Brennan said parking services does not receive one cent of the money obtained from ticket citations on campus since it all goes into the Financial Aid Scholarship fund. He added that the fee students pay after their car has been towed is given to the tow contractor.
The cost of a permit increased by five dollars from last year, bringing prices to $95 for seniors and $150 for juniors, sophomores and freshman to park their cars on campus.
“That’s just the way the model was set up, and how we can afford to spend,” said Brennan. “We are going to get the bill shortly (for improvements made to the Southwest yellow lot) which will be roughly $80,000-100,000.
“There were a few small changes when we go into the construction, such as the entrance ways. In years past the entrances weren’t really reinforced, but they really needed to be since the entrance takes a lot of beating. Plus we added new spaces, new lighting and really enhanced the whole lot down there. We’ve been saving to do that – things aren’t cheap, but now it’s a beautiful new lot that should last for years and years.”
Students on campus who park in the lot seemed pleased with the improvements made to it over the summer.
“I think it’s nice that UMass has finally gotten around to paving the Southwest yellow lot,” said Jesse Malloy, a senior English major. “To charge students such a substantial fee to park their car a solid 10 to 15 minute walk from their dorm room in a dirt parking lot is ridiculous.”
However, Malloy said he doesn’t think it is fair that hundreds of students must still park their cars in the yellow lot behind the Mullin’s Center, even though they are paying the same amount of money for a permit.
“We always get asked, ‘why not pave the lot behind the Mullin’s Center?'” Brennan said. “The reason is because it is much worse, and a much larger lot. Most people don’t know, and it is unfortunate the way the lot is situated, but at the end of the lot through the woods is a river. So you can’t put that much paving down without expensive drainage systems in order to stop rain water from rolling into the river along with the chemicals in the pavement.”
According to Brennan, it would cost about two or three million dollars to fund a project that large.
“Eventually we will pave it, maybe not next year but maybe in a few,” he said. “We would love to pave that lot – it would take a lot of our headaches away.”
But for now, senior Megan Burden is glad to see the Southwest yellow lot paved; however she believes the set up of the expanded spaces could pose a possible danger.
“I like that it’s newly paved, but I think there should be another road on the other side of the new spaces,” said the communications major. “It is dangerous because your car could get clipped if you’re backing out and someone didn’t see you, but I’m glad to see that the money from our permits is going towards renovations of the parking lot.”
Brennan explained that the way the lot is set up – with the new spaces added to the north end of the lot, leaving a dead-end situation for those unable to find a space and are left to back their cars up – was done in order to maximize as many spots as possible.
“You find that in a lot of parking scenarios,” Brennan said. “Our other choice would’ve been to put a road there on the other side, which would have meant fewer spaces. Then individuals who didn’t get in because the lot was sold out would end up behind the Mullin’s Center.
“So for the little difficulty they just have to bare with it and drive safe, it’s not something that’s never been encountered before. It could be frustrating if you drive down and have to back up, but I’d rather have more space. Our goal and parking services’ philosophy is that we believe we should provide as much parking as possible around all residential areas.”
