Motorcycle parking -- Free Parking Lot (SM Airport)

Sent to:

currey_carole@smc.edu

donner_thomas@smc.edu

miller_eileen@smc.edu

phillips_belinda@smc.edu

brown_greg@smc.edu

Subject:

I write to request that the school address a problem with parking for
the new building at 3171 Bundy (at the satellite campus). I am
currently a student taking Math 20 in the new building. I drive a car, but
most of the time use my motorcycle to cut down on driving and gasoline.
The free parking lot (across from the new building) provides marked
spaces for cars, but includes no marked spaces for motorcycles. There is a
triangular area within the lot which could easily accommodate 2 or 3
motorcyles without interferring at all with car parking. In fact, there
are other areas within the lot that could serve that purpose.

On Wednesday, after starting class for the summer session, I parked my
motorcycle in that lot in the triangular area, avoiding the spaces
designated for cars. A parking enforcement officer in the morning
indicated that would be OK. In the afternoon, after class, another enforcement
officer emphatically told me that I could not park there and that I
would be cited. He told me that I would instead have to park several
blocks down the street in another lot which has motorcycle spots. The
problem, however, is that the other lot is a considerable distance away,
and it makes no sense to force a motorcycle rider to use a lot so far
away from the class and to take a shuttle when adequate parking is (or
should have been) available right across from the new building.

I am appealing to your sense of logic, hoping for a positive response
from Administration and/or the Campus Police. First, there is adequate
space in the lot to accommodate
both cars and motorcycles. Second, you have constructed a "new"
building. Surely, foresight in providing the parking to get to it includes
both cars and motorcycles. Motorcycles are not unusual. After all,
this is a college. Third, in the year 2005 we are taught to find ways to
reduce driving and to reduce gasoline consumption. I could simply park
my car in the lot and be done with it (four days a week for five
weeks). I suppose so could other motorcycles riders. However, that seems to
me to be a step in the wrong direction -- and I'm sure you would agree
with that.

I would appreciate it if someone would take the time and opportunity to
look at the lot, look at the triangular area, and designate 2 or 3
spaces for motorcycles. It seems to me this should have been done at the
outset, but perhaps was an oversight.

Thanks so much for your attention to my request. I am enjoying the
classes, but the convenience of being to able to reasonably get there is
equally important to me.

Sincerely,

Angelo Banfi