Surely I can’t be the first to point out that the parking situation on the Portland State campus is not only terrible, but seems to be made actively worse by the powers that be at PSU.
I’m not talking about the weekly hunting trips desperate students make every morning, vainly trying to find an empty parking spot for which they have a permit. No, I’m talking about the university hamstringing students who are moving out by preventing them from parking near their housing unit.
The weekend before spring finals was my self-designated move-out weekend from my apartment in the Parkway building. The housing office gave me a flashy little parking permit that, they said, would allow me to park behind my building (a proper parking lot, not garage or street parking) and load my van as needed.
After acquiring a van and parking, I placed the requisite parking pass on the dashboard as instructed. An hour later, after everything was loaded and my flat was clean, I was ready to leave. That’s when I noticed the parking violation on the windshield of the moving van.
Upon closer inspection, I realized the parking pass that PSU housing had issued me (compliments of Transportation and Parking Services) was not valid in that parking lot—the parking lot directly adjacent to my building. It was valid in a parking lot behind the science building three blocks away, and in another one next to the library, also three blocks away.
What kind of cruel and underhanded game is PSU trying to play? Finals week is stressful enough on students without the headaches of moving. Throw in graduation for around 20 percent of PSU students, and finals week becomes downright miserable. So why add to it by making people haul furniture and boxes halfway across campus because, for whatever reason, they limit the parking passes to less than half a dozen parking lots, only two of which are located near residence halls? Yes, that’s right: The parking permits are valid for parking lots that provide no use whatsoever for students moving out of housing.
I have been trying to think of what sadistic reason PSU would have to implement such a scheme. The only reason I can think of is it’s a cash cow: They patrol the parking lots during finals week and ticket those who are blissfully unaware that the smiling and friendly individual at the Montgomery Court desk happily handing out parking passes was in fact giving away a ticket for PSU to steal.
Perhaps this is a simple matter of inertia: It’s always been done this way, so it’ll stay this way. This would be a sign of stupidity rather than sadism. Bureaucratic inertia being what it is, such an explanation would be plausible, if not particularly likely; I can’t be the first one to notice this phenomenon.
The reason students are subjected to this is immaterial. PSU needs to recognize that this particular issue is one many students face (PSU has approximately 1,000 students in student housing during any given year, the vast majority of which move out during finals week). This university needs to allow students who are moving out to park in all campus lots. For the majority of PSU students, this is a non-issue, but for those students living in housing it’s a significant hindrance.
Well said, and very well written. So true, sometimes it seems that many colleges, not just PSU are just a money making machine. They crank out graduates and rake in money and every successful graduate they make it a point to say, “see look at so and so, they graduated here and they are now top dog!” when in reality it almost never has anything to do with the school and everything to do with the hard work and perseverance of the student and their extreme work ethic to overcome any adversity and would likely be successful at any school they attended. But it looks good and sells tickets, of sorts.
Back to the topic at hand, parking. I have noticed that generally parking, driving, and even walking around PSU with a darn highway running down the middle of it is horrible and dangerous. Just crossing 4th ave. to the engineering building you are taking your life into your own hands hoping people see you in time to stop. One of the reasons I really appreciate taking some classes at PCC as the parking is above average and I don’t have to walk a mile or cross any highways to get from the parking lot to the building my class is in. Not to mention it is half the cost of PSU, but I am digressing again. The parking situation is bad enough without sub par rules and people in charge that just don’t seem to care and think that friendly service will make up for having horrible rules and counter productive parking permits seemingly designed to invite penalties and fines.
I tried taking the MAX to the new science building down by the river and it was a nightmare, over crowded and they never add cars to the trains. I must add that after being in Tokyo and riding the mass transit there coming back to Portland was like taking a step 100 years back in time. There is no need to add more stop times just add cars to the current stops you have, when given a choice of being on time for class or 15 minutes late because you had to wait for the next train, I chose to walk rather than wait for the next train. I gave up using MAX because they would even end train service before the stop I needed forcing everyone off the train and I had to wait for the next train if I wanted to continue, seriously, I really hate the trouble involved with going to PSU, from parking to trying to use mass transit and even just walking around, it is an absolute nightmare.
College can be difficult enough without adding to it a logistics nightmare.