 "Photo: Zevandah Barnes/Echo staff photographer")
As N.C. Central University has grown, so has the availability of free parking.
Drive down nearby residential streets and you'll see that student parking is occupying residential neighborhoods up to five or six blocks away from campus.
Many students like nursing sophomore Delia Wallace, opt out for parking in the community saying that the parking deck costs too much or that it's inconvenient.
"They shouldn't have taken away the parking in front of the band room," she said.
But some residents are striking back at student parking in front of their homes — they're claiming public street space as their own private parking area with orange cones and garbage cans.
You often see the cones on the north side of the campus on Price and Dunstan avenues and Concord and Merrick streets.
"It makes me really upset. It's like the community doesn't care about NCCU students," said Candess Carter, mass communications junior.
Carter said she was involved in an incident with a community resident about parking last November. She said a resident threatened her with a knife for parking in front of her residence and threatened to have her car towed.
Carter said that she doesn't have a NCCU parking decal because there are no parking spaces reserved for any area near the Farrison-Newton Communications Building where she takes her classes.
Mass communication senior Tenisha Moore said she had her car towed by a community resident on Dunbar Street in January.
Moore said she'll move cones if she needs to park. "I'll take pictures so I can take the necessary actions if my car is towed," she said. 'Moore said she had a NCCU decal one semester but couldn't ever find parking on campus.
According to the Durham police officer D.M. Keith neighborhood residents do not have the right to reserve the space on public streets.
"There is a misconception that the area in front of the house is for the homeowner to park," he said.
He also said city ordinances require residents to removing garbage cans from their street by 6 p.m. on the day of trash pick-up.
Keith said students should call Durham police at the non-emergency number, 560-4600, when they see cones on public streets near the campus.
Ann Charleston, a resident on Price Street, said that residents on Price don't have a problem with students parking on their street, but she said students need to be more respectful.
Charleston complained that students often litter her street.
"There should be marking for student parking and residential parking," said Charleston.
is a member of the 
Be the first to comment on this article! Log in to Comment
You must be logged in to comment on an article. Not already a member? Register now