By Elora Brow
Staff Writer
Parking permits are necessary for Costa students to park in the student parking lot, but they are only available to upperclassmen, which is unfair as it leaves many with no place to park.
Starting on May 1, the incoming juniors and seniors were able to sign-up for a parking permit. Student parking is limited to 190 parking spaces, resulting in the selection process being a first-come, first-serve bases. Incoming seniors get priority.
Although it is their final year at Costa, it is not right that seniors have first pick over the limited spaces in the student lot, which unfairly leaves many empty spaces that cannot be filled by the younger grade levels.
Many seniors leave school after fourth period. However, because a majority of those with a permit are seniors, it prevents the lower grade levels from having the ability to park in the spaces of seniors when the seniors leave school early. This system poses an unfair advantage as seniors only need to utilize their parking spaces for a fraction of the school day.
According to Vice Principal Deborah Hofreiter, who is in charge of parking, as much as the school would like to expand, currently, there is no available space. According to Hofreiter, space issues regarding parking will be reexamined after construction is complete. Due to this lack of available space, students are forced to find alternative locations for parking, which can prove to be time consuming, inconvenient and can lead to frequent tardies in their first period classes.
Other than the student parking lot, Peck and Meadows, the two streets bordering Costa’s entrances, are the only streets open for student parking, but they both have limited capacity as well as strict parking restrictions. Having students park on the streets is unreasonable as they have a greater risk of being late to class due to traffic or lack of space on nearby streets.
As stated by Hofreiter, there is extra space available by the gym with construction trailers currently parked there, but after the construction is finished, the administration would be open to looking into adding another parking lot for students. This space would be beneficial as it would help provide equal parking opportunities for all grade levels by opening 20 to 30 spots.
There used to be a parking lot on Meadows that is no longer in the school’s full possession, accordin to Hoffreiter. She stated that the old parking space could be turned into staff parking, which would leave the other teacher lot for students to use. This is a reasonable solution to the lack of student parking as it is an efficient use of available space.
Adding an additional parking lot with or without permits would benefit the of students who are forced to park on the street.
As construction begins to come to an end, the district should start to look into new options for parking in areas that are now open.
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