By Joseph Iemma
Staff Writer
Finding a spot during the morning rush at LIU Post truthfully is the metaphorical equivalent to a game of Russian roulette. One day, you’ll win; your prize is that coveted spot right outside of Hillwood. The next day, you don’t win, but survive. You can take the spot in the auxiliary lot adjacent to the Pratt Center. Yeah, it’s about a ten-minute walk to your class, but you’re running late and you’ll take it, because if you don’t, you are late to class, and lose.
If there are no spots anywhere to be found, you’re faced with either parking on the other side of campus, or creating your own spot, risking a ten dollar ticket given to you by the public safety officer, who doesn’t care that you were late, only about where you parked. Oh, and he probably enjoyed writing you that ticket, too.
The new regime here at Post has, dare I say, made “improvements” to the campus. For example, the flowers! The new beautification process Post underwent this year has brought many new things to campus, like bees…lots of them. How about improvements in terms of parking on campus? Negative, there are none.
Understandable, yes, given that it’s been only two years since President Cline’s arrival, but this is a problem Post has been facing for years.
“I couldn’t take the hour drive to Post, just barely making it to campus on time was one thing,” said Stephanie Athanasopolous, a junior Photography major. “But then finding a spot [on campus] seriously added twenty minutes to the daily adventure called my morning commute. I [now] either have to wake up an hour earlier, or I just stay over at my friend’s dorm.”
“It’s my first year here, and literally I don’t know how you guys do it,” said Jason Mari, a junior Business major. “Parking is such a process.”
The parking situation at Post, from my perspective, has truly gotten out of hand. Post offers room and board, but the university is mostly recognized as a commuter school. For commuters, like myself, who drive from as far as Queens, Brooklyn, and eastern Long Island, LIU fails to provide us with adequate parking and it is insulting. I start my commute from Queens to Post at 8:15 a.m., and the L.I.E. is stressful enough; finding parking on campus shouldn’t have to be just as stressful.
Perhaps the most disheartening thing about this whole situation is the fact that Post doesn’t have a good track record to begin with when it comes to providing sufficient parking for its students.
Over the summer, the LIU Post administration implemented numerous budget cuts. Our campus doesn’t even have an ambulance anymore, and I’m starting to think it’s because they had no place to park it.
I get it; we all get it. College is about taking responsibility, maturing, and growing into your own. However, if the student body is facing a problem, such as parking, how can we better ourselves if we can’t even make it to class on time? I fear that if Post doesn’t solve its parking problem in the near future, another university — that doesn’t hurt my wallet or gas tank as much — might.
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