As a commuter, I do not ask for much.
When I'm stuck in rush-hour traffic, I don't ask to be excused for being late.
When I have a three-hour break between classes, I don't ask for a place to take a nap.
When I'm hungry, I don't ask to not pay $9 for a spot in the dining hall.
But, one thing I am going to ask you for, Seton Hall, is a parking spot.
For the past month, finding a parking spot in the SHU parking lot has been a living nightmare for 59% of students who commute to classes. From 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., the Seton Hall parking deck transforms into a mechanical jungle, lined-up from head-to-toe with cars of every make and model, vying for a chance to find a sacred open space.
And let's not forget the joyous motorcade of students that leaves the deck at 5 p.m. After a long day of classes, homework, and stress, nothing, and I mean nothing, is more pleasing than wasting a quarter tank of gas and 20 minutes of my traveling time waiting to get to street level while blasting whatever garbage has been playing on the radio all day long.
The root cause of this chaos lies in the groundwork for the new Welcome Center that will be making it's debut on campus in Spring of 2018. That is, by my count, another combined 11 months of the main academic semesters that we get to experience this transit trauma if things go unchanged. To put that into perspective, imagine how angry you are behind the wheel every day, both entering and leaving the parking deck, times 30, and then times 11.
And in one month alone, campus has been roaring with frustration. Countless tweets, snaps, and Setonianstories paint the picture of some seriously peeved-off Pirates.
But, who can blame them, when it seems as if getting into a free parking space is harder than it was to get into college in the first place?
For commuters, it can sometimes seem like we have to go that extra mile to get to that 8 a.m. lecture on time. No, we cannot simply roll out of bed with our flannel PJ's on and make a two-minute trek to Jubilee. Instead, we drive. We get up at ungodly hours, brave the beeps and honks of angry New Jersey drivers, and pull in just in time for attendance. What we want, as students with a little extra stress on our day, is the ease of finding a place to leave our car/dorm.
We want to be able to pull out of our driveways without the fear of not having left early enough, simply because there are hundreds of other commuters in the exact same predicament that really is none of our faults.
And you've tried to help us, Seton Hall. You really have. You've offered to refund our money in exchange for a returned parking pass. So, that leaves us $300 richer, our cars with zero place to park, you with one less disgruntled student, and the rest of the commuter community with one more spot to fight for in the deck.
So what do we want, Pirates?
Another parking deck? More options to leave our cars? Or maybe just to be heard?
Perhaps, it's all three.
