With an increase in the price of parking permits from $22 last year, to almost double that ($40) this year, we can’t help but question the thought processes behind such a drastic change.
What we have been told is that the addition $18 from each student who parks on campus will help raise money to pay for repaving, lighting, repainting, etc. of the already existing parking lots and roads. We have also been told that some of these funds will be used to purchase additional land to build desperately needed new parking lots. But wait, there’s more! Whatever money is left over after that is apparently going to go toward fixing many of the city roads.
This seems like a pretty big pill to swallow to us.
On the one hand, we have a lot of solid improvements that the university – as well as the city of Commerce – could use. However, on the other hand, some of these improvements are ones that have been promised to us in the past, and, yet, we have not seen much lasting change in those areas.
Also, is it just us, or was the university trying to reduce the amount of traffic on campus not too long ago? We seem to remember a Phase IV that took away roads in favor of a pedestrian-friendly campus. To us, this seems like a flip-flop by the university in which the quick solution is to take more money from students.
As we said, we applaud the university for continuing to try to anticipate and adapt to growth, but we can’t help but feel like the gambler’s son – giving our father our last $5 as he promises to pay us back if the Cowboys win.