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Several weeks into the semester, traffic-jams are still happening consistently in PCC parking lots, and students are becoming increasingly burdened by the lack of solutions.

“That first Tuesday, it took me at least 45 [minutes to park],” Jay Arellano, a sophomore at PCC said. “I left early, and I was still twenty minutes late to class.”

Weston Theriot, also a sophomore, can relate to such parking troubles.

“We turn on Colorado, friggin’ nightmare. We go to park in the parking structure in the back, towards the science village area, it takes us 6 minutes just to turn left. . . It’s been at least twelve minutes since we got in the parking structure we had to park on the roof, there were 3 spots left and we’re fighting all the other cars up there. . . we had already waited for a spot for two minutes and some guy just cut in and stole the spot. By the time we get out we’re already late [for our 8:45 class] by fifteen minutes.” Theriot said.

Other students think that parking is still a debacle even after the first week.

“Every time I get here it seems it takes me 30-35 minutes to get here and then to find parking is usually another 20 minutes. . . so that’s over an hour,” PCC student Haleigh Evans said. “It’s so bad it makes me not want to come to school. . . I don’t want to be late to class, I’m paying money to be here and on top of that i’m paying money to park.”

The exact reasons for the parking lot traffic-jams, is unclear, although the Courier continues to investigate them. What is clear, is that students are not receiving clear communication from the college regarding parking information.

“Students are not even told that parking is such a mess, and I think that people need to be told” Evans said. “It can’t just be in the fine print, it has to be clear.”

Many students are not sure where they should go with parking complaints, or what office is responsible for parking policies.

“I guess I would just try to talk to administration,” Evans said.

In fact, a search for “parking” under the “departments” tab on the PCC website returns zero results.

“College parking policies and procedures are governed by board policy 6750 and Administrative Procedure 6750,” PCC spokesman Alex Boekelheide said when asked which office develops parking policies.  “These documents are subject to the same approval processes as are all of our Policies and Procedures, which involves deliberation and approval through PCC’s Shared Governance Processes.”

In short, there is no single office that is responsible for improving parking on campus. In the meantime, parking on campus continues to be a frustration for students, and a near-taboo subject for school officials.

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