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NCCU is the focal point for thousands of determined and ambitious people trying to strengthen their chances for a better life.
A major percentage of these students live on campus, well and good, but for the sizable number that commute every day to and from the University as part of their graduation plan, there is an issue, and it is the bane of this elaborate plan .
The constant NASCAR circling to locate parking space on and around campus that is in proximity to their classes and various departments is as much of a headache as it is a time waster, not to mention its effect on one’s “psyched up classroom mode.”
On any given day at NCCU, a brief interview with students living off campus and driving to school will elicit the same agonized response, “there’s just not enough parking space available to us, compounded when you do not have a decal permit.”
The University recently unveiled a grandiose and timely plan to alleviate this problem; the construction of a 750 square foot multilevel parking deck scheduled to be completed before or by May 18, 2010.
Yet I wonder, till 2010, how many thousands of dollars will students pay to the City of Durham in parking violation fees?
My neighbors are kind, and have given me unrestricted access to their streets, lanes and even their front lawns to aid my quest for education, and for that I salute them.
Yet the ticket man lurks, hovering just out of sight, an unnoticed shadow, ready to serve me a $50 snack if I stay one minute longer than the period his boss has authorized me to use the side of the road for parking..
I am the motoring student who has to contend with fueling my vehicle, staying within speed limits while driving from home, and trying to concentrate in class without depressing visions of the thin orange envelope being slid under the windshield wiper of my car.
I desire to attend classes on time, not out of breath running from some distant parking spot where the safety of my possessions are in jeopardy.
And I deserve the dignity of walking back to my car in calm after classes, contemplating my lectures and not frantically racing in a hurried half walk-run hour after hour, hoping against hope I have not been served the dreaded orange snack in my absence.
I need a break. I feel the university should step in, maybe work out a temporary understanding with the city authority to give me a bit more space to maneuver.
It would be immensely beneficial for all students, who will not have to endure constant interruptions during lectures from other students who have missed out on the first quarter of the class because they were out there trying to “park right.”
As winter approaches, few students will enjoy walking long distances in the cold to and from their vehicles in an attempt to stay “on point” in class.
It would be an immeasurably kind gesture to increase the permitted parking period on some of these roads, so that I can go back and forth from classes without apprehension on what awaits me when I return to my vehicle.
There must be a way around this problem, and although a solution is in sight, there must be interim relief until NCCU controlled parking space becomes a reality.
I imagine every student who experiences these troubles will agree that it is imperative that the school administration assists students ... till May 2010.
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