Zoe Surles
Parking around Central is not a new topic of conversation for students. In fact, an opinion article from a 1997 issue of The Chronicle written by Shaun Kroes covered the lack of parking for students and teachers alike. In the past 25 years, the issue of parking has only gotten worse. In Kroes’ article, he thought of many ways to potentially fix the lack of parking, but one statement that stood out to me was that “Central doesn’t have the room for a parking lot, nor will it ever have room, short of buying a block of houses and tearing them down.” If you aren’t aware, Central did, in fact, buy a block of houses and tear them down. Instead of student parking lots, however, the school added new classrooms, a new gym, and a fairly small parking lot for teachers. These are all necessary additions, especially with a growing student population, but does a growing number of students not also lead to more student drivers?
As Central is performing construction, areas around the band church and the field across the street have been closed off. These areas, which took up multiple blocks of parking, were spots that band students often parked in since many of them have the class early in the day and like to have a shorter walk to their first-hour class. However, the closed-off spots have led to many of these students needing to relocate and park a bit further away, leading to a domino effect of parking madness. As the band students park in new spots, the people that used to park in those spots then need to find a new place, which then moves the people that parked in those spots, and on, and on, and on, and on.
One of the biggest problems that this parking relocation and scarcity of spots has caused is first-hour and seventh-hour tardies. In the mornings, students are scrambling to find the closest - or any, really - parking spot that they spot. Some get lucky and find one, but eventually the (legal) places to park run out. I have talked to seniors who told me that they spent 30+ minutes just trying to navigate morning traffic and find any open spot they can. A similar issue happens with open lunch. Many upperclassmen like to go out and get lunch, but find that when they get back, the only open spots are several blocks away from the school. If Central had a parking lot for students, there would likely be fewer tardies in the mornings and after 6th hour open lunch. Students would be closer to the school and wouldn’t have to drive around for tens of minutes looking for a spot. If the parking lot got full, the street spots would still be open.
Not only would a student parking lot help out with tardies, but it would also likely decrease the number of students that receive parking tickets, get in accidents, or get yelled at by funeral-goers and the residents near Central. If you told me that you don’t know a single student driver who has received a ticket, a dent in their car, or a scolding from parking around Central, I would tell you that I don’t believe you. Because of the lack of parking spots, students often find themselves squeezing into spaces that aren’t exactly legal. This has led to a student or two receiving parking tickets that could easily be avoided if there was a parking lot. Many students have also been involved in accidents - usually minor, but accidents nonetheless - from driving around the school. Accidents such as the multiple cars that were side-swiped by a school bus could be myths if students were given their own space to park.
Finally, the residents near Central. Some are very kind and will politely greet walking students who pass by. Others REALLY do not seem to enjoy teenagers (though who can really blame them). Many students have found themselves being yelled at by residents for parking on the side streets near the school for many reasons. My favorite reasons that I’ve heard people get yelled at by locals for include funeral processions, (not really) blocked driveways, and “taking up space.” In my most professional opinion, the relationship between Central students and neighborhood residents has never been weaker than when there are parking issues.
Central students aren’t asking for a mile-wide supermarket parking lot, just a small space - ANY space - where students know they can park without getting in trouble in some way or another. If the school can add new buildings to accommodate an increasing number of students, why can’t they add new spaces to accommodate an increasing number of student drivers? Just as the parking issue has only gotten worse since Shaun Kroes’ 1997 opinion article, it seems that the parking issue will only continue as construction of everything but a student parking lot progresses.