Last Tuesday at 12:40 p.m. I arrived at the Sonoma State campus to attempt the daunting task of parking my vehicle in all the main lots closest to campus. 

Now if you enjoy making the twenty minute trek from the parking lots of the Green Music Center all the way to the other side of campus to Darwin Hall then, you are a better student than I. 

I cannot help but wonder that if I pay this luxurious fee of $94 this semester to park on campus, then I should be able to park in whatever lot I have to park in to be close to my specific class. 

For those of you who remember how much your parking permit was last semester, this rate is actually $18 more this semester than it has been in previous semesters. 

Typically one would ponder that when the rates for services such as a parking increase, the situation for such problems would get better. Instead we pay nearly $100 a semester to not park in the lots are needed the most such as E, F, G, H, and J. 

Eventually I journeyed to J, went through F twice, and didn’t even bother looking through E or Zinfandel village. Try finding parking at either of those locations and you’re luckier than the Cotati Crawl on Thursday nights. 

I vigorously searched G and H, but once again I was let down. At that point I began to stalk people who were walking through the parking lot.
“Hey man, you leaving campus?” I said only to have a response like: “Nah man, I just left something in my car.” 

Eventually after making a return trip to lot G, I was lucky enough to find a guy with a white BMW who I personally thanked many times. By this time it was 1:10 pm and my class had been going for about 10 minutes. Not the best ending, but perhaps the school should invest in something to where students such as I will not run into this problem.

 With all the money this school has spent on luxurious music and student centers, perhaps a Parking Structure could have somehow made its way in between them? Not once in my time here have I heard any kind of discussion to address the parking problem. I recognize the paving work they did on Lot F, but I don’t consider that as help to decrease the parking situation. 

I can’t help but look at this situation and wonder; wouldn’t it make sense to solve the problems that need to be solved before trying to move our school into the future? The Student Center cost $62 million. The new parking garage at the University of Central Florida was $14 million, and this was 402,000 Square feet. That’s capable of 1,326 parking spots. 

Going to school is difficult enough without worrying about the rigors of where to park. 

We can talk about these problems as much as we want, but if the faculty is incapable of realizing that problems like this need to be addressed, then the responsibility is on our backs to see that it be attended to.