Parking is a problem at USM.
That may be the understatement of the year.
The administration has been saying for years that it’s working on a solution. The school has not-so-patiently been waiting for the day when parking isn’t a 20-minute headache.
That day has come.
We should rejoice. We should be happy. We should praise the administration.
But we won’t.
The University’s plan to pay for the parking garage that is supposed to end parking congestion at USM is deeply flawed.
The garage is supposed to be for the entire USM community.
But it’s being paid for by the students.
The University has devised a plan that calls on full-time students to bear most of the financial burden for faculty, staff, the administration and community members.
Next year full-time students will pay a parking and transportation fee of at least $96. Faculty and staff will pay $35.
The following year full-time students will pay at least $192. Faculty and staff will likely pay $35.
That is, unless the University is able to negotiate a new parking fee for faculty and staff, a prospect that the president of the full-time faculty union said is very unlikely.
So, students will pay and they will pay dearly.
Some say that isn’t a problem because faculty and staff won’t be able to use the garage unless they pay an additional fee.
At least they have a choice.
The fee will be applied to all students, whether or not they want to park on campus.
It doesn’t matter if you carpool, ride a bike, take the bus or walk to school. If you take 12 credits you will pay $96 next year and the garage won’t even be finished.
The following year, when there actually will be a parking garage, students will pay $196. Again, regardless of whether or not they even have a drivers license, full-time students will pay at least $196.
This is not an issue of selfishness. It’s an issue of fairness.
Being part of a community means paying for services we don’t necessarily use. We pay a health fee, an energy fee, a technology fee and even a records fee of $7.
We pay them because we’re part of a community. Most of us don’t even know what the money’s used for.
But there’s no mistake about the proposed parking and transportation fee.
It’s the simplest way for the administration to get out of a jam.
Late last fall the Portland Planning Board in effect said it wouldn’t allow the University to expand unless it made serious steps towards implementing a parking garage.
The University has spent years neglecting the parking problem and making empty promises. The city finally sent a message the University couldn’t ignore.
So with several major expansion projects hanging in the balance, such as the science building expansion and a major new community facility, the administration had to act quickly.
By not dealing with it earlier, the administration created a situation where implementing outrageous student fees was its only option.
It’s not our job to clean up the University’s messes.
Contact the president and tell him the plan needs to change before it’s brought to the Board of Trustees meeting this May. Call him at 780-4480 or e-mail him at: [email protected]