Parking Lots

                Parking anywhere can be an issue, but it is especially bad at schools.  For many schools, students have to pay to have a parking spot and sometimes their spot in the lot isn’t even guaranteed.  As more students are driving in high school you would think that the parking lots would greatly increase in size to accommodate all the cars, but that is not always the case.  Even having several parking lots like my school has, there are still not enough spaces.  What do you do if you can’t find a spot to park and school is about to start?  Well, you better hope you brought your running shoes. You would have to find a legal street to park on that is close to school and hurry to get to school.  Parking can sometimes be so bad at my school to where it takes about 10 minutes to walk to school from a parking spot!  That is unbelievable!  But don’t worry, you are not alone.  Many other places struggle with parking problems also and in this PDF file it discussed all of the problems of one city and possible ways to improve the situation.

                There is a solution to all of this parking madness!  How about putting in a parking ramp?  Yes, I know that would be expensive, but if you have students pay for their spot and have it to where they can only get into the ramp if they have a card access it might work.  In no time the parking ramp would be paid off and then the school could even profit from it.  There would then be less room needed for parking and the school wouldn’t have to be on such a large lot to make all the parking spots fit. 

                Parking at school isn’t just bad for students, but it can also be bad for parents.  A lot of times there are multiple events happening in one night for parents to attend and watch their students, but all the parents and students then need a place to park.  One time there was a performing arts concert the same night as a basketball game and even though my parents showed up twenty minutes early, they couldn’t find a parking spot anywhere and ended up not getting to see the performance because there was no place to put their vehicle.  Isn’t that sad?  Parking for everyone needs to improve.

                There is also the fact that some kids go against rules and sometimes park in the wrong lot that they didn’t pay for or didn’t earn.  Being a junior and having to earn my spot in the lot that I have, it annoys me to see people illegally parking in my lot and taking other fellow juniors and seniors spots.  Sometimes cars get ticketed if they are in the wrong spot and they have to pay a fifteen dollar fine, but there are ways to not get caught. 

                Parking can also be a hassle because most young people don’t respect other people’s property.  I would never bring a nice car to school because it is just going to get destroyed from door dings, scratches, and bumper bumps.  I don’t know if it is just me, but I was taught that if you leave damage to someone’s car you need to find that person or leave your name and number offering to pay for the damage.  People work hard for what they have and shouldn’t have to worry about having a shitty car after bringing it to school. 

                Another option would be taking the bus or carpooling.  I know that that is not an option for everyone because of extracurricular activities, weird class schedules, or not having a bus route, but there are many people that can take a bus and choose not to because it’s not “cool” to ride the bus.  Grow up and deal with it!  Why does it matter what other people think?  Just ride the bus and save money.  Dear all spoiled kids out there who don’t realize all that they have.  Do you need a car to survive?  Do you pay for your gas?  Did you buy your car?  Do you have the option to ride a bus but choose not to because you don’t want other people to see you riding the bus?  Now I have you thinking and possibly upset because you just realized how fortunate and selfish you are.  Sorry not sorry.  It would free up more parking spots for people and would reduce the amount of harm done to the environment from useless driving. 

                Parking all around just needs to be improved and will probably worsen as people have to find air parking spots in the world when everyone has flying cars and cool electronics.  We can deal with air parking later, now we need to focus on parking in the present.