Mark GarlitAfter parking on Residential Blvd a handful or a couple of times (I honestly don’t keep track), I was ticketed the other night. I’m not surprised that I got one eventually, but I am shocked at how long it took to be ticketed.
Should I be mad or do I at least have the right to be? Not entirely. I did something I know is wrong, and now I’ve been put through the system. But I feel as though there is some right to be a little perturbed. If not for my own personal feelings, then for the students who will face this problem next year.
First off, my apologies to the residents for taking a space that could be used for their own vehicles. Shame on me. But there is a bigger issue at hand here. What happens when the record amount of students who are being forced off-campus, or even to Harcum, need to get to classes. I don’t think it’s safe for them to actually park on top of someone’s else’s vehicle. I don’t even think it’s entirely possible.
Next year, it is my understanding that there will be a whole mess of commuters on this campus because there’s no housing for some people. So there’s no housing, but there’s tons of parking next year? I don’t think it works that way. If there’s little to no parking sometimes now, there’ll be zero parking when the influx of commuters comes to campus.
When I got to this school, the number of students coming to Cabrini was on the rise. Every year, it has gone up, as is my understanding. People can’t park, so they get tickets. People can’t get space on campus, so they’re left out in the cold. Sadly, we don’t get more of what we need. We don’t need more people. We need more housing on campus and more parking to go with that housing.
I’ve been told it takes money to get these things, which I understand. But do we need all that money in one lump sum? What happened to a strategic long-term plan. Instead of letting the whole world into the Cabrini family, why not instill a cap. That way, money can be made slowly and people aren’t inconvenienced so much. People have told me there’s a cap, but given the current housing problems and complaints, plus the parking situation, something tells me the cap has become blurred or almost nonexistent.
It seems to me that things are going to get a whole lot worse before they get any better. But I guess a healthy bottom line can be all that matters sometimes. More students makes more money. More money makes more…well, money. When does it stop? When did the Cabrini colors go from blue and white to the color of money?
Apparently, I was asleep at the wheel when the school colors changed. Who knows? I could have been parked on Residential Blvd when it happened.
Postedto the web by:Mark Garlit
