The PSU Parking Committee met on Fri., Nov. 14 to discuss the possibility of semester parking passes and the state of lot maintenance on campus.
Per semester parking permits were among the top discussed issues at the meeting, “Hopefully by spring, students will be able to purchase per semester parking permits,” Jeff Furlone, of the PSU parking committee said. Furlone cautioned that if the permits were not available for spring of 2009, they would be available for the fall of 2009.
Students will still have to buy permits at full price at the beginning of the year. Students with legitimate academic reasons will be refunded nearly half of the original permit cost if it appears he or she will not be using the permit during the spring semester.
Students with legitimate academic reasons would be those who student teach, study abroad a semester or those who graduate in Dec., and will not be returning for the spring semester.
Students who did not attend PSU during the fall semester, but need a permit for the spring semester will be able to purchase a full year parking permit at the beginning of the spring semester for half price. This is due to the fact that these students will only be purchasing the permit halfway through the year, and will not be utilizing it during the fall semester.
Part of the reason the parking committee never instituted per semester permits was due to the fact that the committee did not want to make specific permits for per semester permits, “There will be no waste of material for specific permits,” Furlone said. The same full year permits would still be sold to, and used by all students.
The Parking Committee also addressed lot maintenance. Last month, the Parking Committee made headlines by recommending a fee increase from fifty to one hundred dollars per incident for refusing to remove vehicles during lot maintenance. The fee increase was recommended by the committee because of the high number of students who did not move his or her vehicles during scheduled lot maintenance. This often led to treacherous lot conditions.
President Steen eventually turned down the fee increase. The fees will remain at fifty dollars per violation. The committee decided on getting the word out regarding lot maintenance times, “All residence halls will have a sandwich board in the main lobby [advertising lot maintenance times],” Furlone added, “Every student will have to walk past these signs,” Furlone said.
PSU is also exploring the possibilities of alerting students about scheduled parking maintenance via text message, “We are working with the Public Relations’ communication department about using the text message system,” Furlone said.
Scheduled lot maintenance begins with the first two inches of snow, or Dec. 2, whichever comes first. At that point, maintenance will continue as scheduled unless otherwise noted.