Parking Predicament
Jody Graham

How many times have you parked your car at UMass Lowell and cringed upon the thought of how close the car next to yours is parked? Or how many times have you been late to class because you could not find a parking spot on time? Parking at UMass Lowell has not improved at all. Even after semesters and semesters of complaints about the lack of inadequate parking, nothing had been done. Until just recently, when the university made an attempt to satisfy the students by creating two other designated areas for commuters to park on north and south campus. One of these designated "parking lots" consists of a grassy area behind the baseball field on south campus. Over the past few weeks students have noticed a huge improvement in the ability to find a parking spot. But now, the greatest concern will be what happens when winter sets in and it begins to snow? Once again where will the students park?

I did some research and spoke with a couple of students to find out their feelings on the parking dilemma, and what they think the university should do. One student who would like to remain an anonymous source says, "I feel like they should consider paving the parking lot areas now before the snowy weather gets here, because if they attempt to plow the grass it is just going to end up being a disgusting mess. The ground will most likely freeze all bumpy, which will be horrible for the cars; and if they don't plow it at all, and just remove those extra lots from being used, there are going to be even more severe problems with parking. Then, the students will just start parking wherever they want, which will create havoc in the parking lots and could possibly produce a greater risk of car accidents."

Stacey Lukason, who is a fourth year student at UMass Lowell, and who happens to live on campus replies, "I think that the parking is going to be absolutely awful come winter time, and I, without a doubt, will be taking the shuttle back and forth from the dorms".

As you can see, the students are well aware of the situation that is going to occur once the snow begins to fall. Hopefully, the university is just as aware, and has prepared an alternate parking procedure for the students in order to make this a safer and more pleasant winter then past years.