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Spelm
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The Voice of African-American Womanhood
Volume XXXV
No. 3
October 30, 1991
Spelman "Land-Locked": No Room For Parking
By Elisa Smith
Editor-in-Chief
How many times have you arrived
at the Atlanta University Center
parking lot at 9:40 a.m. - ample time
to get to you 10 o’clock class - only to
circle the lot for 20 minutes, still
unable to find an empty parking space,
thus late for class?
Or, how many times have you
refused to face those circumstances by
parking on campus in an unassigned
area, only to return finding a bright
yellow and black parking violation
securely glued to your car window?
Well, if you think it’s bad now, get
prepared; things will be worse next
semester.
On October 22, vice president and
dean of Student Affairs Freddye Hill,
vice president of Business Affairs
Robert Flanigan and director of Public
Safety Steve Bowser met with the
Spelman Student Government
Association to discuss the parking
problems at Spelman.
According to Dean Hill, the original
site of the Camille Olivia Hanks Cosby
Academic Center (adjacent to Giles
Hall) was changed due to underground
geographic problems such as plumbing.
The new site is where the Helen T.
Albro Guest House is presently located.
Construction for the Cosby Center
is scheduled to begin in the spring of
1992.
This construction will decrease the
number of faculty parking spaces in the
Fine Arts parking lot.
"In order to get a building permit to
begin construction, we must show
adequate parking," said Dean Hill.
Thus, a student Parking Committee
under the leadership of S.W.A.C. was
formed to "help arrive at a set of
concessions on everybody’s part that
will be [the] best [longterm plan] for
the institution," said Mr. Bowser.
The loss of faculty parking spaces
in the Fine Arts parking lot will
probably mean a decrease in the
number of on-campus student parking
spaces.
"On-campus students are on the
bottom of the priority list," said Mr.
Bowser, stating that many faculty and
staff members believe on-campus
student parking is a luxury.
High on the list of parking
priorities is the accommodation of
faculty and staff members, commuter
students and visitors (vendors, guest
lecturers, speakers, prospective
students, conference-goers, etc.).
Students suggested that local
residential and commercial land plots
be bought and converted into parking
lots.
But Mr. Flanigan believes that
Spelman’s increasing enrollment and
increasing number of off-campus
residents make it impossible to
accommodate such an "ever-expanding
demand on limited space."
"It would be a waste of resources
to buy flat land," he said, because
expansion would be necessary in the
future. '
The most obvious solution to the
problem of inadequate parking: build a
parking deck.
The most obvious prevention to that
solution: "Spelman is ‘land-locked’,"
said Mr. Flanigan.
Since Spelman’s campus cannot
house a parking deck, students
suggested the use of the Sears property
at the West End MalL
Mr. Flanigan said that the use of
the property was considered about six
months ago, but the property is being
sold as one package - Sears, the auto
shop and the parking deck. Spelman
would have no commercial use for the
property and that is the target of the
sale.
Additionally, transportation
(possibly via shuttle buses) would have
to be provided to and from the Sears
lot and, according to Mr. Flanigan, the
Board of Trustees does not want a
"north campus" and a "south campus."
Students also recommended that the
land between Howard Harreld Hall and
the Stewart Living and Learning Center
be paved for parking.
But the Board of Trustees would
not like to see this campus turn into a
"concrete jungle," said Dean Hill.
Mr. Flanigan noted that there are
approximately 7,000 cars demanding
use of the Atlanta University Center
parking lot.
Upon suggestion of building a
parking deck in the A.U.C. lot, Mr.
Flanigan said negotiations with the
other A.U.C. institutions would have to
take place, possible resulting in 1,000 -
1,000 jointly shared by the
institutions.
"There is just no way to
accommodate all the cars that need to
park there," he said.
Ultimately, students, faculty and
staff members will be forced to
carpool.
This might be more difficult for
faculty and staff members, but students
- especially those who live in
apartment complexes that are off the
Marta-line - would benefit from
carpooling.
An incentive for faculty and staff
members to carpool would be the
provision of premium parking spaces -
outside of Manley Student Center,
behind Giles and Morehouse-James
halls and in from of Rockefeller Hall.
Those who live on the Marta-line
could drive their cars to the West End
or Vine City Marta stations and take
advantage of the A.U.C. shuttle buses.
These problems demonstrate the
necessity of a parking policy, which
Spelman currently does not have.
Parking spaces are distributed
through a "lottery," but the lottery
continues the be revised to eliminate
PARKING FACTS
Spaces Available By Location
Henry Street Lot - Any Spelman Permit 113
Fine Arts Lot Faculty 67
Student 33
Upton Drive Faculty 11
West Drive Student 17
LLC I Student 31
Bessie Strong Faculty 54
Main Quad Faculty 59
Rear Abby Faculty 16
Rear Morehouse James Student 17
Visitor 17
Handicapped 7
Parking Availability By Category
Total Faculty/Staff Availability 207
Total Student On-Campus Availability 95
Total Visitor Availability 17
Total Handicapped Availability 7
Pick-Up/Drop-Off 3
Total On-Campus Availability 329
Henry Street Lot Availability 113
TOTAL PARKING AVAILABILITY 442
Parking Permit Distribution
Faiculty and Staff (with one vehicle) 307
Faculty and Staff (multiple vehicles) 252
Total 559
* Potential Daily Use Impact - 433
Student Off-Campus 362
Student On-Campus 95
Total 457
* Potential Daily Use Impact - 457
Total Potential Daily Impact 890
Source: Steve Bowser, director of Spelman College Public Safety
off-campus students from receiving on-
campus parking.
Additionally, the Department of
Public Safety has found that some
people with off-campus permits allow
others to use them.
"A considerable amount of permits
are taken from men," said Mr. Bowser.
Students are encouraged to give
their recommendations on increasing
parking and on implementing a parking
policy to Mr. Bowser by November 9.