College students have long earned a reputation for grassroots organizing, political agitation and radical activism. Even just the past two decades on the University of Oregon campus have seen their fair share of social movements — from anti-war protests during the Iraq War to recent calls to democratize the board of trustees. It’s clear that UO students suffer no lack of physical courage when the time comes to effect change. Now is the time for the student body to mobilize its zeal for justice and direct its energy toward the most important social cause of our time: getting me a free parking space within a few steps of my classrooms.
According to previous Emerald reporting, there are approximately 2,350 parking spaces where permit holders can park their personal vehicles on or near the UO campus. Those spaces are divided among four zones based on how close they are to the heart of campus. Zone A cuts right through the campus along University Street and East 13th Avenue. Until the university gives me a parking space in the lobby of Allen Hall, Zone A is where I want my free parking space.
Of course, If I wanted, I could have had a parking space in Zone A, but it costs $402 per term. How is that fair! I already pay tuition to attend this school, and now the administration wants me to pay for parking. Don’t tell me it’s a different service and that tuition should go to instructors, facilities maintenance, staff members and whatever else the university wastes my hard-earned money on. I don’t care about that! I just want a shorter walk to the Rec.
Another counterargument I’ve heard to my proposal is that it would be unfair to other students who have to park farther away; I couldn’t agree more. The university should build more parking in the heart of campus. UO has loads of green spaces that pretty much sit there and do nothing all the time. Just the other day, I saw a little patch of dirt in the Women’s Memorial Quad where a squirrel was busy burying an acorn. I couldn’t help but think how much I would have personally gained if, instead of a patch of dirt and a squirrel, it had been an expanse of asphalt and a Subaru Forester.
There were 21,752 students and 8,544 employees at UO last school year according to the university’s Office of Institutional Research. That means the university would merely have to increase its parking availability by a little over tenfold to ensure everyone always has a parking spot available.
Ultimately, I propose we bulldoze every green space on campus and convert them into multi-story parking structures. Matt Denberg, a city of Eugene planning specialist, estimates that a six-story, one-acre parking garage can house approximately 450 cars. As the Emerald has previously reported, Pioneer Cemetery is 16 acres alone. All we would have to do is get it removed from the National Register of Historic Places, and we could add 7,200 parking spaces!
And that’s just the beginning. Once we’ve uprooted every tree and flattened every lawn, I’m confident the campus could accommodate everyone’s addiction to commuting solo in a 3,500-pound machine.
Some nerd majoring in Planning, Public Policy and Management will probably respond to this saying something about induced demand, the phenomenon of increased supply increasing demand. In this case, that means making more parking would motivate more people to drive; those extra drivers would in time impact city planning, leading to wider roads; those wider roads would mean things get further apart, meaning more people would want to drive.
All great points, but none of them get me my parking spot in the EMU Fishbowl, so I’m choosing to ignore them. (Don’t even get me started on the argument that all these extra vehicles would impact the environment and endanger pedestrians).
Folks, the facts are clear. We need to mobilize as a community and apply pressure on the university administration until I get a free parking space. Furthermore, I won’t be satisfied until there is nary a blade of grass left on campus and every last one of us can park our cars within a few steps of our destinations. Together, we can make having to walk across campus a thing of the past.
