Dear KSU,
We need to talk. This parking dilemma, I can't deal with it. It's gone on far long enough and we need to get it under control.
As a student that parks in the smallest deck on campus, West Deck, this needs to change. I'm not complaining about parking in West, trust me. I'm complaining about the lack of discipline when it comes to parking decks.
First off, what is the deal with the open gates? I can't tell you the amount of times I've driven through West deck and seen a Central or East Deck sticker, or sometimes no sticker at all. When people don't park in the lot that they elected to park in, they take away from the people that carefully chose their deck to park. People who don't have a sticker to begin with need to go. I pay $33 per semester for a parking pass to a deck full of people who don't have a sticker on their car. Seeing people park wherever they want without suffering the consequences is not how the world works. I totally get that the gates are open for the first two weeks of school, but having to park in the concrete jungle that is Central when all of my classes are on the West side of campus is irritating.
Secondly, I know money is tight, I get it. But maybe, let's spend some of that alumni money on some new parking options. No, I don't mean parking off campus at Town Center and then riding the B.O.B. to campus. If I make the decision and pay my dues for parking, I expect a parking spot somewhere remotely close on campus. Being the second largest university in the state, you would think that you would be ready to deal with the influx of people parking on campus. Oh, a tip for the future, not giving an answer when we call and call to ask about other parking options when ours is full doesn't really help your public image.
Lastly, I get it, the B.O.B.'s are useful. Did we really need the new ones? I understand, they're helpful, but only to those who have access to them. What's wrong with the old ones that we still use? They might not be as pretty, but why not upgrade the ones that we already have? The majority of the students drive to campus instead of riding the buses. Why not use the money we used on the new buses to either upgrade our existing buses or work on our parking problem?
All in all, Kennesaw, you need to get it together. You can't merge with Southern Poly and absorb 5000+ students and expect us to not bust at the seams. Parking is only the top of the list of things you need to get under control. Please do something to improve the parking disaster before we decide to throw a ginormous hissy fit.
Sincerely,
A very upset KSU commuter
