The Cardinal

Early Birds Feel Parking Pressures

Enrollment goes up as available spaces go down.

Elisa Telidetzki
Staff Writer

You pull in.  It’s the first day of school.  You live in Mount Vernon, and you think you have enough time to find a parking space because you left thirty minutes earlier than usual.  Being on time is one of your virtues.  As your eyes survey the parking lot, you swallow hard.  There’s not a parking spot in sight.  In fact, you notice that people are parking at the church and playfields.  What is going on?
Well, this isn’t the first time parking has been a problem.

“This is not the largest enrollment,” says Interim Dean of Students Services, Alan Muia. “Parking was as scarce in 2003 as it is now.”
It may not be the largest enrollment, but it is up from last year, and we are short one parking lot.
According to Muia, classes are fuller now than ever. When people become unemployed, they look for ways to enhance their employment skills.  Whenever unemployment rises, so does enrollment.
“We have a large number of students and staff attempting to park in a limited number of spaces,”says Muia.
“This fall enrollment is running at 7-8% higher than last year,” says President of SVC, Dr. Tollefson, “That’s quite a bit.”
“I haven’t seen a parking crisis to this extent,”says Tollefson, “From 2003-2004, we had some similar difficulties.  We added an additional parking lot (on the east side of campus, by the church).  We added 65-70 parking spaces with that lot. Since 2004, it’s been empty most of the time.”
Ashley Seib, an SVC student, comments, “I feel like I have to get here early to get good parking.  It would be really helpful if we had more parking space.”
Tollefson sympathizes with students, saying, “The first two days of school I had to park in the church area.  I know and feel your pain.”
For the last two years, the southwest corner parking lot has been available. “This parking lot will open again in three weeks.  I’m pushing as hard as I can,” says Tollefson.  The number of parking spots to be open in three weeks, in the south-west parking lot, will be sufficient for all students who had to resort to parking in the playfields and at the church parking lot.
“My impression is that people are doing very well considering what they have to resort to,” says Tollefson. “Because enrollment is up and it’s difficult to find parking, I want students to consider two alternatives.  The first one is carpooling.  We put our carpool spots closer to the building.  If there aren’t enough carpool spots, I will create more. Taking the bus is also a great idea.  Bus passes are cheap.  Both of these ideas are beneficial to everyone.  Fewer vehicles driving means less carbon emissions, and it’s a good way to save money,” says Tollefson.
Students could also bike to school.  Bikes are available to all who are interested. Students can find bikes on the two bike racks outside of the counseling offices. Students who borrow bikes are on the honor system.

SVC student Salina Tapia says, “I had to change my schedule around and I carpool, now.  I have to get here at 7:30 to find a parking spot and my class starts at 9:30.”
There will be an additional parking lot next to Lewis Hall that will be ready four years from now.  If they decide to build the lot first, before they build Lewis Hall, we can expect the parking lot to be ready as early as two years from now.
Muia comments that illegal parking is common now, but will lessen as parking improves over time. For now, the only other available parking is the Skagit Playfields parking lot off of Martin Road, behind the college. 
Josh Ray, a student here at SVC, says, “The parking is pretty bad in the actual parking lot, so I park near the church to avoid trouble.”
“We believe that the situation will improve in the next couple weeks as students settle into their schedules and aren’t on campus for as many hours each day.” says Muia.
Dean Alan Muia informs us that several business owners have requested that students do not park in their lots and have notified the college that they may be forced to remove student vehicles if the trend continues.
“We’re expecting a higher enrollment rate next year.  But it’s all sort of speculative.  The unemployment rate is still steadily climbing,” says Tollefson.