Good parking hard to find

Finding an open space in the Laney College parking lot is tantamount to searching for the Holy Grail. No one is immune to the frustration of the "search"-student, faculty, handicapped or able-bodied.

For faculty members, there are several factors fighting against their finding a parking space. There are students who park in the faculty because of the lack of parking spaces in areas of the lot assigned to students. Then there are commuters who find it economically advantageous to take one class at Laney and utilize campus parking which is considerably cheaper than parking at BART.

The monetary savings of parking in the Laney lot rather than at the Lake Merritt BART station are obvious: the cost of a student parking permit is $40 for the fall and spring semesters and $20 for the summer semester. Whereas, BART parking permits cost between $30 and $115.50 per month, depending on the station, with daily parking at the Lake Merritt station costing one dollar per day.

Confirming the difficulty of the parking situation, Anne Agard from the ESL department said, "Parking is difficult across the board, for students as well as faculty. I know that some students drop out when they realize that there is often no parking available when they arrive, especially for late morning classes. Also, as I found out when I needed it, there are not enough handicapped parking places-they are all taken by about 9 in the morning."

Patrolling the parking lots and ticketing those parked illegally seems to be one logical answer to solve the situation. However, last November a full-time sheriff technician who patrolled the parking lot and wrote tickets was lost due to budget cuts. Sheriff Dan Harrison, Peralta Police Services (PPS), said, "The lots are patrolled daily, but it's random and sporadic."

Dr. Sadiq Ikharo, Vice Chancellor of General Services, also confirmed that the budget cuts severely affected the ability of PPS to patrol and enforce parking restrictions. When $500,000 was cut from the budget for the sheriff's department the clear choice was to alleviate the full-time parking technician position. "It cost $82,000 per year in salary for a full-time parking technician, but the revenue from tickets was only $80,000, resulting in a loss," said Ikharo.

Originally there were 929 Laney parking spaces for students and faculty, but that number has dwindled to 790 due to the CalTrans retrofits and fencing adjacent to the lot.

Parking Mitigation Plans

Source: Peralta Office of General Services

Short term:

There are an additional 94 parking spaces under construction on 8th St. near the football field, including eight designated for handicapped that will be available in August. (The number of handicapped parking spaces is determined by a percentage as outlined by state law and the Americans With Disabilities Act.)

Long term:

> The Peralta District is in negotiations to acquire the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center, which has not been used since 2005. That acquisition would mean additional parking spaces that are available on the property. An outcome of these negotiations is expected by June.

> Negotiations are underway with BART for using the Lake Merritt station parking lot for students attending evening classes.

> A Joint Partnership Agreement (JPA) which would include private and governmental entities offers the possibility of turning the parking lot into a structure that would house retail, offices and provide more parking spaces-allowing for three to four levels of parking. A decision on this venture is expected in 2012.

Immediate plans for enforcement were put in place following a meeting between Ikharo held with PPS Lieutenant Erik Gulseth, and Securitas (private security company). This would include:

> Patrol and enforcement (ticketing) of the faculty parking lot in the mornings until noon on weekdays.

> Weekend patrol and enforcement of general campus area, including parking lot by Securitas.

> Fencing off and gating the faculty parking lot; entrance would be through a programmable ID card.