With MCCC’s growth in the last decade, finding a parking spot has become a challenge.
For some students, this means waking up ten minutes earlier. But for others, it means non-traditional parking maneuvers, from using illegal handicap spaces to taking over the fire lane or no parking zones.
“They should really charge people for parking like an idiot. Who would want to pay $50 to park like a moron?” said Nick Basille, a student and frustrated driver.
During certain parts of the day, some of the parking lots are more crowded than others.
“It sucks at times,” Ryan Hatzung said. “Sometimes I have to park at the opposite side of campus.”
Other students feel the same way about the times when parking is crowded.
“I can never find a spot in the lot next to E building,” student Josh Pershing said.
Bill Myers, chief security officer at MCCC, said he is disappointed with the way students are treating the parking lots, which seem to have turned into a free-for-all, with no rules or consideration.
Students apparently are thinking of new and creative ways to get to class quicker. One student even noticed other students making their own spots.
“One time, some students just got some orange cones and set them up,” Lindsey Insco said. “They’ll just put some cones up and then use them.”
Myers indicated that MCCC security has begun to tow cars that are in major parking violations.
“I’ve noticed a lot of curb and not-in-the-line parking,” Pershing said.
Myers also said the college has ordered a shipment of signs that indicate where not to park. The signs will be in various spots around the parking lots in the spring. Any car that violates a parking law can be towed at the owner’s expense, Myers said.
“MCCC is still part of Monroe County. It isn’t out of the question for the sheriff to hand out some tickets,” he added.
According to Myers, the grounds maintenance crew had trouble clearing snow from the parking lots during the winter because of the odd parking.
The college is planning to add a Career Technology Center in the future, which has already worried some students about future parking. But along with the worry has come hope.
“Adding another lot would be a good idea. I just don’t know where,” Jake Zapor said.
“The college could just fill in the pond, put cement in it,” Insco suggested. “Also, why can’t students use the faculty’s parking spots?”
